Conley v. Logan County Board of Education - Workers' Compensation Appeal

1 STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA SUPREME CO URT OF APPEALS Christie Conley, Claimant Below, Petitioner v.) No. 25-660 (JCN: 2024006657) (ICA No. 24-ICA-424) Logan County Board of Education, Employer Below, Respondent MEMORANDUM DECISION Petitioner Christie C onley appeals the August 6, 2025, decision of the Intermediate Court of Appeals of West Virgini a (“ ICA ”). See Conley v. L ogan Cnty. Bd. of Educ., No. 24-ICA-424, 2025 WL 2240314 (W. Va. Ct. App. Aug. 6, 2025) (memorandum decision). Respondent Logan County Board of Education filed a timely response. 1 The issue on appea l is whe ther the ICA erred in affirming the October 8, 2024, decision of the West Virginia Workers’ Compensation Board of Review, which affirmed the claim administrator’s November 9, 2023, order rejecting the claim based on the finding that the c laimant did not sustain an injury in the course of and resulting from employment. Upon our re view, we determine that oral argument is unnecessary and that a memorandum decision affirming the I CA’s decisi on is appropriate. See W. Va. R. App. P. 21. The claimant asserts that she injured herself while leading kindergarteners in dancing. 2 The claimant felt a sharp pain in her left hip, which was later determined to be related to her lower back. The claimant a rgues that the only evidence against her version o f events is a re port by Randall L. Short, D.O., based on Dr. Short’s viewing of a video recording of the incident supplied to him by the employer. While the vid eo recording wa s not submitted into the r ecord, Dr. S hort admitted that it showed that the claimant grabb ed her left hip while dancing. Therefore, the claimant argues that this Court should reverse the ICA and hold the claim compensable for both the left hip and lower ba ck. The employer counte rs by arguing that, while the claimant may have felt a sudden ons et of le ft hip pain when she was present at work on O ctober 6, 2023, the evidence does not establish that this pain resulted from the claimant’s employment. Furthermore, the employer argues that pain is a symptom instead of a diagnosis that can b e included in a wor kers’ compensation claim. Left hip pain was the only “diagnosis” listed on the employees’ and 1 The claimant app ears by counsel Edwin H. P ancake, and th e employer appears by counsel Steven K. Wellman and James W. Heslep. 2 The claimant is a physical education teacher. FILED February 13, 2026 C. CASEY FORBES, CLERK SUPREME COURT OF APPEALS OF WEST VIRGINIA

2 physicians’ report of injury with the diagnoses involving the lower back not being made until two weeks later. Medical personnel at Logan Regional Medical C enter, who treated the claimant on October 6, 2023, did not indicate on the physicians’ portion of t he injury re port that the claimant suffered an occ upational injury. Therefore, the employer argues that the Board of Review, the trier of fact, 3 did not err in affirming the claim administrator’s rejection of the claim. This C ourt reviews questions of law de novo, whi le we acco rd deference to the Board of Review’s findings of fact unless the findings are clearly wrong. Syl. Pt. 3, Duff v. Kanawha Cnty. Comm’n, 250 W. Va. 510, 905 S.E.2d 528 (2024). Upon consideration of the re cord a nd briefs, we find no reversible error and therefore summarily affirm. See W. Va. R. App. P. 21(c). Affirmed. ISSUED: February 13, 2026 CONCURRED IN BY: Chief Justice C. Haley Bunn Justice William R. Wooton Justice Charles S. Trump IV Justice Thomas H. Ewing Justice Gerald M. Titus III 3 “An appellate court may not decide the credibility of witnesses or weigh evidence as that is the exclusive function and task of the trier of fact.” Stat e v. Guthrie, 194 W. Va. 657, 669 n.9, 461 S.E.2d 163, 175 n.9 (1995).