Adams v. Frit Car, Inc.

649 S.E.2d 651, 185 N.C. App. 714, 2007 N.C. App. LEXIS 1946
CourtCourt of Appeals of North Carolina
DecidedSeptember 4, 2007
DocketNo. COA06-1267.
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 649 S.E.2d 651 (Adams v. Frit Car, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of North Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Adams v. Frit Car, Inc., 649 S.E.2d 651, 185 N.C. App. 714, 2007 N.C. App. LEXIS 1946 (N.C. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

WYNN, Judge.

In general, our review of findings supporting an Opinion and Award of the North Carolina Industrial Commission is limited to determining whether any evidence supports the findings of fact.1 Here, the plaintiff and the defendant essentially ask us to re-weigh the evidence and determine that the Full Commission erred in its findings and conclusions. Because the standard of review for worker's compensation cases prohibits the re-weighing of evidence on appeal, we affirm the Opinion and Award.

On 13 September 2000, Plaintiff Charles Adams was working as an employee for Defendant Frit Car, Inc., when he suffered an injury to his right knee. Mr. Adams underwent arthroscopic knee surgery in December 2000 and did not return to work at Frit Car until February 2001, by which time his doctor had concluded Mr. Adams had reached maximum medical improvement and assigned a ten percent permanent partial disability rating to his knee. However, upon his return to work, Mr. Adams was informed that his employers had discovered numerous problems with his performance prior to his injury, including the failure over an extended period of time to file several safety reports *653and other documents that were a part of his responsibilities. Frit Car terminated Mr. Adams for this poor job performance, which they contend was unrelated to his knee injury.

Mr. Adams continued to have pain in his knee after he was terminated by Frit Car, and he underwent additional surgery in November 2001, as well as physical therapy through 2002. Mr. Adams further suffered from anxiety and depression, for which he received counseling and therapy for a number of years, but which he contends was controlled by medication prior to his accident, yet more severe afterwards. Mr. Adams remains unemployed since he was terminated by Frit Car in February 2001, despite being cleared by his doctor for sedentary work. Frit Car accepted his initial worker's compensation claim as compensable and paid temporary total disability benefits through 27 March 2002.

An Opinion and Award was filed by a Deputy Commissioner of the Industrial Commission on 17 June 2003, which ordered Frit Car to pay all medical expenses incurred by Mr. Adams as a result of his September 2000 knee injury, but denied his claim for temporary total disability from 15 February 2001 onward and denied his claim for loss of earning capacity. Mr. Adams and Frit Car were also ordered to pay their own respective costs.

Both sides appealed to the Full Commission, which entered an Opinion and Award on 22 May 2006, affirming in part and modifying in part, due to additional evidence received, the Opinion and Award of the Deputy Commissioner. The Full Commission denied Mr. Adams's claim for additional temporary total disability, as it found that Frit Car had already paid for the period he was out of work, namely, up to February 2001 and then from 19 November 2001 until 27 March 2002. The Full Commission also ordered that, if not already paid, Frit Car should pay Mr. Adams permanent partial disability compensation for a period of one hundred weeks for the fifty percent permanent partial disability to his leg. Frit Car was ordered to pay "all of [Mr. Adams's] reasonably required medical treatment resulting from his knee injury of September 13, 2000, including past and future medical treatment, for so long as such treatment is reasonably required to effect a cure, provide relief and/or lessen his disability . . . ." Mr. Adams's attorney was awarded a fee of twenty-five percent of the compensation awarded to Mr. Adams, and Frit Car was ordered to pay costs.

Both Mr. Adams and Frit Car now appeal. Mr. Adams argues that the Full Commission erred when it found that (I) he had failed to establish disability due to his physical restrictions caused by his knee injury, and (II) his anxiety and depression are not causally related to his knee injury; and Frit Car contends that the Full Commission erred when it (III) concluded that Mr. Adams is entitled to future medical treatment for his knee injury.

At the outset, we note that our review of an Opinion and Award of the Full Commission of the North Carolina Industrial Commission is "limited to reviewing whether any competent evidence supports the Commission's findings of fact and whether the findings of fact support the Commission's conclusions of law." Deese v. Champion Int'l Corp., 352 N.C. 109, 116, 530 S.E.2d 549, 553 (2000). In particular, this Court "does not have the right to weigh the evidence and decide the issue on the basis of its weight. The court's duty goes no further than to determine whether the record contains any evidence tending to support the finding." Adams v. AVX Corp., 349 N.C. 676, 681, 509 S.E.2d 411, 414 (1998) (quoting Anderson v. Construction Co., 265 N.C. 431, 434, 144 S.E.2d 272, 274 (1965)), reh'g denied, 350 N.C. 108, 532 S.E.2d 522 (1999).

Furthermore, if there is any evidence at all, taken in the light most favorable to the non-moving party, the finding of fact stands, even if there is substantial evidence supporting the opposing position, id., and findings may be set aside on appeal only "where there is a complete lack of competent evidence to support them." Rhodes v. Price Bros., Inc., 175 N.C.App. 219, 221, 622 S.E.2d 710, 712 (2005) (quotation omitted). However, we review the Commission's conclusions of law de novo. Griggs v. Eastern Omni *654Constructors, 158 N.C.App. 480, 483, 581 S.E.2d 138, 141 (2003).

I.

First, Mr.

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Bluebook (online)
649 S.E.2d 651, 185 N.C. App. 714, 2007 N.C. App. LEXIS 1946, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/adams-v-frit-car-inc-ncctapp-2007.