Lane Co., Inc. v. Saunders

This Workers’ Compensation appeal turns on the question whether the herniation of a claimant’s intervertebral disc, which occurred at an uncertain time, was a compensable “injury by accident” under the Compensation Act.

Hammie L. Saunders, the claimant, had been employed by The Lane Company, Incorporated, a manufacturer of furniture, for about a year as a band saw operator. On June 7, 1983, there was no work to be done on the band saw, and he was assigned to work with two other men on the “tennon machine.” This work involved removing table tops from the machine after their edges were shaped…