Angela M. Acord v. Family Dollar Stores of W. Va., LLC ( 2024 )

FILED
November 26, 2024
C. CASEY FORBES, CLERK
SUPREME COURT OF APPEALS
STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA OF WEST VIRGINIA
SUPREME COURT OF APPEALS
Angela M. Acord,
Claimant Below, Petitioner
v.) No. 23-630 (JCN: 2014027025)
(ICA No. 23-ICA-214)
Family Dollar Stores of W. Va., LLC,
Employer Below, Respondent
MEMORANDUM DECISION
Petitioner Angela M. Acord appeals the September 26, 2023, memorandum decision of the
Intermediate Court of Appeals of West Virginia (“ICA”). See Acord v. Family Dollar Stores of W.
Va., LLC, No. 23-ICA-214, 2023 WL 6290097 (W. Va. Ct. App. Sept. 26, 2023) (memorandum
decision). Respondent Family Dollar Stores of W. Va., LLC filed a response.1 The issue on appeal
is whether the ICA erred in affirming the April 26, 2023, decision of the West Virginia Workers’
Compensation Board of Review, which affirmed the claim administrator’s September 26, 2022,
order denying the addition of various diagnoses to the claim.2
The claimant asserts that the record supports the addition of sacrococcygeal disorder and
sacroiliitis as compensable diagnoses. The employer counters by arguing that the Board of Review
properly affirmed the claim administrator’s denial of the addition of sacrococcygeal disorder and
sacroiliitis. The employer argues that sacrococcygeal disorder and sacroiliitis do not describe
injuries but constitute vague symptoms or general diagnoses that should not be held compensable.
This Court reviews questions of law de novo, while we accord deference to the Board of
Review’s findings of fact unless the findings are clearly wrong. Syl. Pt. 3, Duff v. Kanawha Cnty.
Comm’n, 250 W. Va. 510, 905 S.E.2d 528 (2024). Upon consideration of the record and briefs, we
find no reversible error and therefore summarily affirm. See W. Va. R. App. P. 21(c).
Affirmed.
1
The claimant is represented by counsel Reginald D. Henry and Lori J. Withrow, and the
employer is represented by counsel Jeffrey B. Brannon.
2
The claim administrator denied the addition of SI pain, right SI pain, arthrodesis,
sacrococcygeal disorder, and sacroiliitis as compensable conditions, but the claimant only
challenges the denial of the diagnoses of sacrococcygeal disorder and sacroiliitis.
1
ISSUED: November 26, 2024
CONCURRED IN BY:
Chief Justice Tim Armstead
Justice Elizabeth D. Walker
Justice John A. Hutchison
Justice William R. Wooton
Justice C. Haley Bunn
2