Delaware Subscriber

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The court case you were reading about is Duvall v. Charles Connell Roofing, 564 A.2d 1132 (1989). The Delaware Supreme Court used that case not only to reverse the denial of compensation to Duvall, but also to declare that the usual exertion principle would be the rule in Delaware as opposed to the unusual exertion rule. Delaware thus joined a majority of jurisdictions throughout the country that apply the usual exertion principle to workers compensation cases.

The usual exertion principle states that an injury is compensable under workers compensation if the ordinary stress and strain of employment is shown to be a substantial cause of the injury. The unusual exertion rule requires a claimant to show that he was engaged in some form of unusual exertion or activity at the time of a job related injury in order to collect workers compensation benefits.

These two principles usually come into play when disputes over workers compensation benefits arise based on preexisting conditions. For example, some would deny compensation to an employee who suffers a heart attack while on the job because that employee had a preexisting heart condition, unless it can be shown that the employee engaged in extraordinary or unusual exertion while working. Others support the idea that if an employee suffers a heart attack while engaged in the usual exertion of the job, compensation should be paid if it can be shown that a causal connection exists between the work-related activity and the injury; the presence of a preexisting problem or disorder is not the main point. As noted previously, the majority of jurisdictions in the country have abandoned the unusual exertion rule.

Neither the usual exertion principle nor the unusual exertion rule have any direct effect on the workers compensation policy. The policy agreement states that the insurer will pay promptly when due the benefits required by the workers compensation law. Therefore, if a particular state workers compensation law (by statute or by court decision) declares that compensation will be paid if the injury to the employee was caused by the usual, normal stress and strain of the job (in contrast to relying on unusual exertion), the workers compensation policy will respond. This is the case in your state and the workers compensation policies of your clients will pay any such claims.