Adolphe Lafont USA, Inc. v. Ayers

958 So. 2d 833, 2007 WL 1675314
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedJune 12, 2007
Docket2006-WC-01681-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 958 So. 2d 833 (Adolphe Lafont USA, Inc. v. Ayers) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Adolphe Lafont USA, Inc. v. Ayers, 958 So. 2d 833, 2007 WL 1675314 (Mich. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

958 So.2d 833 (2007)

ADOLPHE LAFONT USA, INC., Legion Insurance Company and the Mississippi Guaranty Association, Appellants
v.
Earmie AYERS, Appellee.

No. 2006-WC-01681-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

June 12, 2007.

*835 Robert L. Grant, attorney for appellants.

John Hunter Stevens, attorney for appellee.

Before LEE, P.J., BARNES and CARLTON, JJ.

LEE, P.J., for the Court.

FACTS

¶ 1. Earmie Ayers was awarded workers' compensation benefits after stepping in a hole at Adolphe Lafont, a garment factory in Crystal Springs. Ayers claimed that when she stepped in the hole her weight shifted injuring her back. The injury occurred on November 1, 2001, while Ayers was employed with Adolphe as a bundler. Her job duties included pulling heavy bundles of garments and also some drilling work.

¶ 2. Ayers, a fifty-four year old resident of Crystal Springs, Mississippi, went to work at Adolphe in August 1999 and continued working after her injury until a general layoff due to downsizing of the company in September 2002. Before the layoff, Ayers missed work occasionally to go to the chiropractor after stepping in the hole. After being laid off, she received unemployment benefits for six months. Ayers graduated from high school and has worked in convenience stores and factories mostly in positions which required standing eight hours a day. She claims that before stepping in the hole she had no prior back problems. She stated that after stepping in the hole her back pain progressively got worse from pushing, pulling, and carrying heavy bundles of clothes.

¶ 3. Ayers began seeing Dr. Mitchell Myers for her back pain. He treated her with various analgesics and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs without benefit. An MRI scan revealed an L5-S1 disc protrusion. She saw a chiropractor and went to physical therapy but saw little improvement. When Ayers returned to Dr. Myers's office again with back pain, he determined that it was appropriate to refer her to a neurosurgeon. Dr. Adam Lewis performed surgery on her back on March 19, 2003. In a letter dated October 6, 2004, Dr. Lewis stated to a reasonable degree of medical probability that Ayers would be restricted in her ability to lift objects weighing more than twenty-five pounds, she would be restricted in her ability to stand for periods of time exceeding two hours, she would be restricted in her ability to sit for periods of time exceeding two to three hours, and she would be restricted in her ability to bend and/or stoop. Dr. Lewis recommended that she avoid repetitive bending and stooping. He assigned her a twelve percent permanent partial medical impairment rating to the body as a whole.

*836 PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ 4. Ayers filed a petition to controvert with the Mississippi Workers' Compensation Commission against Adolphe and Legion Insurance Company. Adolphe disputed the benefits, claiming that her back pain was not the result of an on-the-job injury. A hearing was held on October 11, 2004, before an administrative law judge (ALJ). On April 11, 2005, the ALJ ordered that Adolphe and Legion Insurance Company pay temporary total disability benefits in the amount of $166.68 a week for two years and permanent total disability benefits of $166.68 a week for the 450 weeks following the two year period. Adolphe and Legion Insurance appealed, and the Commission affirmed the decision of the ALJ on December 21, 2005, but with amendments. One of the amendments corrected a misstatement in the ALJ's opinion, and the other struck the award of temporary total disability benefits. The Commission found that since Ayers was found to be permanently and totally disabled, she was not entitled to an additional award of temporary total disability benefits. On August 31, 2006, the Circuit Court of Copiah County affirmed the amended order of the Commission.

¶ 5. Adolphe Lafont and Legion Insurance now appeal to this Court asserting the following issues: (1) the Commission erred in finding that Ayers provided sufficient and credible evidence of an injury in the course and scope of her employment; (2) the Commission erred in basing its decision on the deposition testimony of Dr. Adam Lewis, whose opinions lacked credibility and were based upon incorrect assumptions as to Ayers's job requirements; (3) Ayers failed to give actual notice of the injury to the employer within thirty days as required under Mississippi Code Annotated Section 71-3-35; (4) the Commission erred in holding that there was sufficient evidence presented at the hearing to show that Ayers had sustained a total loss of wage earning capacity; and (5) the Commission erred in applying the presumption that Ayers had made a claim for a total loss of wage earning capacity due to her inability to return to her former job with the employer.

¶ 6. Finding that the Commission's decision was supported by substantial evidence, we affirm.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶ 7. The standard for appellate review of workers' compensation claims is limited. It is well settled that "the Commission is the ultimate fact-finder." Hardin's Bakeries v. Harrell, 566 So.2d 1261, 1264 (Miss.1990). Our review is limited to a "determination of whether or not the decision of the commission is supported by the substantial evidence." McCarty Farms, Inc. v. Banks, 773 So.2d 380, 386-87(¶ 23) (Miss.Ct.App.2000) (quoting Delta CMI v. Speck, 586 So.2d 768, 772-73 (Miss. 1991)). "This Court will overturn a Commission decision only for an error of law or an unsupportable finding of fact." Cook v. President Casino, 740 So.2d 963, 966(¶ 16) (Miss.Ct.App.1999) (citation omitted).

DISCUSSION

I. DID THE COMMISSION ERR IN FINDING THAT AYERS PROVIDED SUFFICIENT AND CREDIBLE EVIDENCE OF AN INJURY IN THE COURSE AND SCOPE OF HER EMPLOYMENT?

¶ 8. Adolphe argues that the Commission's decision was not supported by substantial evidence. Adolphe's main source of contention throughout this case has been that Ayers's back pain was not the result of an injury during the course and scope of her employment. The Commission *837 affirmed the following finding by the ALJ:

Claimant presented as a credible and compelling witness with a good past work history. Also other testimony presented lent credence to the claimant's version of events when she was injured falling in a hole present on the concrete workplace floor. Claimant's treating physician, Dr. Adam Lewis found a causal connection between the workplace injury and her current condition.

Adolphe argues that the only evidence of the accident was Ayers's own testimony which was contradicted and unreliable. We find nothing in Ayers's testimony that is contradictory or "unreasonable to the point of unbelievability" as Adolphe claims. We find the ALJ's statement that Ayers was a credible and compelling witness to be supported by substantial evidence. Adolphe points to the testimony of Ayers's supervisor who stated that he first became aware of the injury in December 2002 — over a year from the date of the accident — and that no record existed of the accident. However, witnesses for the company did not deny that Ayers told them of an accident but stated that they could not remember. Also, witnesses for the company testified that the floors in the plant were cracked and that someone could fall.

¶ 9. Adolphe also argues that Ayers was untruthful about pre-existing back problems. The complaints of lower back pain Adolphe refers to were from doctor's visits in October 1989, November 2000, and February 2001.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
958 So. 2d 833, 2007 WL 1675314, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/adolphe-lafont-usa-inc-v-ayers-missctapp-2007.