Spilman recently had a successful result at the North Carolina Court of Appeals in a workers' compensation case for a municipality. The employee's use of an e-cigarette caused a coughing fit, which caused the employee to pass out. After passing out, he fell on a concrete block and suffered three vertebral fractures. In a unanimous decision, the court upheld the denial of the claim on the grounds that although the injury was caused by a fall at work, the cause of the fall was due to idiopathic conditions and the use of the e-cigarette, which were "not traceable to the conditions of his employment."

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