Abstract
In the field of worker's compensation law, formulating a standard for determining when an internal injury is compensable remains one of the most vexing problems confronting state courts. Utah's experience has proved unexceptional. In the recent decisions of Farmers Grain Cooperative v. Mason and Schmidt v. Industrial Commission, the Utah Supreme Court evidenced its confused treatment of the issue. In Mason, the court reversed a claimant's benefit award for a back injury on the ground that he had failed to prove an identifiable accident or "unusual event or trauma" necessary to establish entitlement to compensation. Only seven months later, in Schmidt, the court overturned an Industrial Commission order denying benefits to a claimant with back injuries, stating that an internal failure itself might constitute an accident without the requirement that it be caused by "some incident which happened suddenly and is identifiable at a definite time and place."
Recommended Citation
Milstead, Byron W.
(1981)
"Schmidt v. Industrial Commission and
Injury Compensability Under Worker's
Compensation Law: A Just Result or
Just Another "Living Corpse"?,"
Utah Law Review: Vol. 1981:
No.
2, Article 5.
Available at:
https://dc.law.utah.edu/ulr/vol1981/iss2/5