HARRIS V. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF HOWARD COUNTY
825 A.2d 365 (2003)
NATURE OF THE CASE: Harris (P) appealed a decision of the Court of Special Appeals that
affirmed a trial court judgment reversing an administrative decision and denying
compensation to P, on the grounds that she had not suffered an accidental injury within the
meaning of Md. Code Ann., Lab. & Empl. 9-101 (1999).
FACTS: Vernell Harris (P), was fifty-eight years old and had been employed by Board (D)
for twelve years. P's duties included preparing lunches for the students, tending to the
cash register, cleaning the kitchen area, and laundering all linens used throughout the day.
P's regular work involved lifting boxes of frozen food weighing approximately thirty-five
pounds from the freezer and carrying them to the appropriate food preparation area. P was
doing laundry with a co-worker, as she typically did at the end of her workday. The two
women opened a forty-five-pound box of laundry detergent, but they found that the box was
full of cockroaches. They immediately closed the box to prevent the insects from
contaminating the food preparation area and moved the box outside. P and her assistant
dragged the box out of the laundry room by sliding it through the kitchen and out of a side
door. Once outside, they removed the bag of soap powder from the box. This required some
pulling back and forth on their part. P pulled on the box while her assistant pulled out the
soap powder bag. Once the soap powder was out of the box, they took the bag back inside to
the laundry room and placed it in a different box that was elevated only about half as high
as the original box. After bending down to scoop some soap detergent into a cup, Ms. Harris
bent down a second time to tie up the bag of soap powder. At that point, her back 'cracked'
and she screamed. P was unable to stand upright, and, when a co-worker brought her a chair,
she was unable to sit. She appeared to be in excruciating pain. P walked to the cafeteria
manager's office who gave her an incident form authorizing her to see a doctor at a nearby
medical office. Dr. Jackson testified that it was her expert medical opinion, within a
reasonable degree of medical certainty, that dragging the heavy box of laundry soap outside
caused Ms. Harris's back injury. P filed a claim with the Workers' Compensation Commission,
alleging that she was disabled as a result of her back injury on January 25, 1999. After a
hearing, the Workers' Compensation Commission issued an order finding that P had sustained
an accidental injury arising out of and in the course of her employment and was entitled to
compensation. D appealed. The jury returned a verdict in favor of the employer. P filed a
motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict or for a new trial, but the motion was
denied. P appealed. The court held there was sufficient evidence that P's injury did not
arise out of 'unusual activity' to sustain the jury's verdict. P appealed.
ISSUE:
RULE OF LAW:
HOLDING AND DECISION:
LEGAL ANALYSIS:
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