Teacher’s fall after foot went numb not compensable

A Florida teacher who fell in the classroom after his foot went numb while seated at his desk is not entitled to workers compensation benefits, an appeals court ruled Wednesday.

Steven Silberberg alleges his sleeping leg led to a loss of balance and his falling over. A judge of compensation claims denied compensability, concluding that Mr. Silberberg’s resulting injury “did not arise out of his work as a teacher, even though the fall occurred while he was at work and performing work,” according to documents filed in Steven Silberberg v. Palm Beach County School Board and York Risk Services Group, filed in the District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District, in Tallahassee.

Records state that Mr. Silberberg “did not trip or stumble immediately before the fall, and that he did not strike the desk or any other work equipment as part of the fall,” and that “there was nothing special or unusual about the desk” and “no one assaulted him or pushed him.”

An independent medical examiner on behalf of the employer testified that Mr. Silberberg reported occasional numbness in his left foot prior to the accident and that the fall was “most likely due to brief compression of the nerves for the left leg due to the sitting in one position,” records state.

In affirming the earlier ruling, the appeals court wrote that Mr. Silberberg’s fall did not meet the bar of being causally related to his work as a teacher, that his sitting at his desk did not cause the fall, adding that “the same sitting outside of work was just as likely to be that trigger” for a fall.