Repetitive motion can cause 'injury,' Georgia high court rules.

A physician's carpal tunnel syndrome is an injury, even though it was caused by years of continuous motions rather than a single incident, the Georgia Supreme Court has ruled, answering a certified question from the Eleventh Circuit.

The decision will help the federal appeals court determine whether to uphold a declaratory ruling in favor of the doctor in his lawsuit seeking lifetime disability benefits from Provident Life and Accident Insurance Co. (Provident Life & Accident Ins. Co. v. Hallum, 576 S.E.2d 849 (Ga. 2003).)

Alton Hallum was diagnosed in 1997 with carpal tunnel syndrome resulting from performing repetitive hand motions over 25 years of private practice in obstetrics and gynecology. The next year, after surgery failed to relieve his pain, he was declared totally disabled, and he retired from his medical practice at age 61.

Hallum's disability insurance policy, issued by Provident, differentiated between an "injury," which warranted lifetime benefits, and a "sickness," which warranted benefits only until he was 65. Provident classified Hallum's condition as a sickness. He filed suit in Georgia state court, disputing that classification. Provident removed the case to federal court.

Based on testimony by Hallum's doctors that his condition "is due to an injury and not a sickness or disease," the district court granted summary judgment for him. The Eleventh Circuit determined that the case turned on the definitions of those terms, which are governed by Georgia law. It asked the state supreme court to resolve how Hallum's condition should be classified. (Hallum v. Provident Life & Accident Ins. Co., 289 F.3d 1350 (11th Cir. 2002).)

Writing for the Georgia high court, Chief Justice Norman Fletcher noted that state law distinguishes between "accidental injury" ("an injury that is unexpected but may arise from a conscious voluntary act") and "injury caused by accidental means" ("one that is the unexpected result of an unforeseen or unexpected act that was involuntarily or unintentionally done"). Because Provident's definition of injury uses the words "accidental bodily injuries," the court ruled, it applies to an unexpected condition that arose from a voluntary act--such as repetitive hand motions.

Attorney Glenn Bass of Atlanta, who represented Hallum, said, "Basically, the Georgia Supreme Court said to Provident, 'If you intended [to limit the definition to] injury by accidental means, all you had to do is say so.'"

"A person could suffer a series of small traumas over an extended period that ultimately resulted in a bodily injury that was disabling," Fletcher wrote. Therefore, Hallum's condition should be classified as an injury under Georgia law.

The case is pending before the Eleventh Circuit.