West Virginia high court OKs plumber’s double amputation comp claim

A plumbing apprentice who was seriously injured in 2021 after being struck by a vehicle while helping another car accident victim during a work trip is entitled to workers compensation because a supervisor’s actions urged him to help, the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday.

The latest ruling affirms a state Intermediate Court of Appeals that reversed a state Workers’ Compensation Board of Review determination that Tyler Carroll, who required a double amputation, was not eligible for workers compensation because the injury occurred during a deviation from his job as a plumber, according to West Virginia Heating & Plumbing Co. v. Tyler J. Carroll.

At issue was whether the accompanying worker was a supervising employee, of which the latest ruling describes the other employee as a union “journeyman,” writing “(b)oth the supervisor and the employer’s president testified that a journeyman supervises an apprentice,” the ruling states.

The appeals court, in finding the claim compensable, said Mr. Carroll’s co-employee’s actions on the scene of the accident constituted “implicit authorization for Mr. Carroll’s actions while working.” “Implicit authorization,” the appeals court wrote, can bring an employee’s acts within the scope of employment and make a claim compensable.

The state’s highest court found “no reversible error” in the appeals court’s decision.