Ambrose v. Cvs Pharmacy

CourtNorth Carolina Industrial Commission
DecidedOctober 31, 2008
DocketI.C. NOS. 506675 627621
StatusPublished

This text of Ambrose v. Cvs Pharmacy (Ambrose v. Cvs Pharmacy) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering North Carolina Industrial Commission primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ambrose v. Cvs Pharmacy, (N.C. Super. Ct. 2008).

Opinion

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The Full Commission has reviewed the prior Opinion and Award based upon the record of the proceedings before Deputy Commissioner Harris and the briefs and arguments before the Full Commission. The appealing party has shown good grounds to reconsider the evidence, and upon reconsideration, the Full Commission affirms in part and reverses in part the Opinion and Award of the Deputy Commissioner.

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The Full Commission finds as fact and concludes as matter of law the following, which were entered into by the parties at the hearing before the Deputy Commissioner as:

STIPULATIONS
1. All parties are subject to the provisions of the North Carolina Workers' Compensation Act, and the Industrial Commission has jurisdiction over these claims.

2. The third party administrator for defendant-employer CVS Pharmacy (hereinafter "defendant-employer CVS") is GAB Robins.

3. The carrier on the risk for defendant-employer Rose, Harrison Gilreath (hereinafter "defendant-employer RHG") is Ohio Casualty Group.

4. There is no question as to misjoinder or nonjoinder of any party.

5. At all relevant times, plaintiff was an employee of defendants.

6. Defendants CVS and GAB Robins admitted the claim for I.C. No. 506675 (date of injury February 4, 2005) pursuant to a Form 60 dated June 17, 2005, and admitted the claim for I.C. No. 627621 (date of injury March 27, 2006) on a medicals only basis pursuant to a Form 60, dated June 9, 2006.

7. Defendants RHG and Ohio Casualty were joined upon motion of defendant-employer CVS and GAB Robins and have denied the claims.

8. Plaintiff's average weekly wage as of March 27, 2006 was $455.54, which yields a compensation rate is of $303.69 per week.

9. The following documents were accepted into evidence as stipulated exhibits at the Deputy Commissioner's hearing:

• Exhibit 1: Executed Pre-Trial Agreement

• Exhibit 2: Industrial Commission forms and filings

*Page 3

• Exhibit 3: Plaintiff's medical records

• Exhibit 4: Plaintiff's personnel file from defendant-employer RHG

• Exhibit 5: Parties' discovery responses

• Exhibit 6: Defendant-carrier GAB Robins' indemnity and medical payment history

10. The issues before the Commission are whether plaintiff is entitled to further compensation for her back condition; whether plaintiff sustained a new compensable back injury by specific traumatic incident on November 17, 2006 while working with defendant-employer RHG; whether plaintiff's current back condition, need for additional medical treatment and any ongoing disability are related to the admittedly compensable back injuries that plaintiff sustained while working with defendant-employer CVS on February 4, 2005 and March 27, 2006, or the alleged November 17, 2006 incident, or neither; and, whether defendants should pay attorney's fees pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 97-88.1.

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Based upon the competent evidence of record herein, the Full Commission makes the following:

FINDINGS OF FACT
1. As of the Deputy Commissioner's hearing, plaintiff was 51 years old and completed one semester of junior college. She worked for the North Carolina Department of Transportation ferry system performing computerized inventory work, as a typesetter for a newspaper, and as a clerk at a tackle shop. Plaintiff began employment with defendant-employer CVS in 2004 and worked for approximately a year and a half, starting as a pharmacy technician and advancing to shift supervisor. After her employment with defendant-employer CVS, *Page 4 plaintiff worked for approximately two months part-time at the Duke of Dare Motor Lodge as a desk clerk, and then approximately three months as a receptionist with defendant-employer RHG, a law firm.

2. Plaintiff's overall health was good before she started work with defendant-employer CVS in December of 2004, and she had no condition that impaired her ability to work at full-duty. In her positions with defendant-employer CVS, plaintiff's duties included entering prescriptions into the computer, filling prescriptions, serving customers, performing inventory, stocking shelves and unloading trucks.

3. On February 4, 2005, plaintiff sustained a low back injury, including severe pain down her right leg, when she fell while unloading products from a truck in the course of her employment with defendant-employer CVS. Defendants CVS and GAB Robins accepted this injury on a Form 60 dated June 17, 2005.

4. After conservative treatment with her family physician failed to relieve plaintiff's low back and right leg pain, plaintiff underwent a lumbar MRI on March 26, 2005. The MRI revealed an L4-5 right paracentral disc herniation compressing the right L5 nerve root, with evidence of degenerative changes and stenosis throughout the lumbar spine.

5. On May 6, 2005, plaintiff presented to Dr. Victor Sonnino, a neurosurgeon, who diagnosed a disc herniation at L4-5 and recommended a course of physical therapy. He also restricted plaintiff to no lifting greater than ten pounds, with alternating sitting and standing.

6. Physical therapy failed to relieve plaintiff's symptoms, and, on June 22, 2005, plaintiff underwent a decompressive laminotomy by Dr. Sonnino. Following surgery, plaintiff returned for postoperative treatment with Dr. Sonnino, including a course of physical therapy. *Page 5

The surgery improved plaintiff's symptoms, but she still had low back pain and pain going down her right leg, and her feet were constantly numb.

7. From June 2, 2005 through August 3, 2005, plaintiff was out of work and defendant-carrier GAB Robins paid plaintiff temporary total disability. After her return to work with defendant-employer CVS, plaintiff was promoted to shift supervisor.

8. On March 27, 2006, plaintiff sustained a low back and left knee injury when she fell off a ladder while stocking shelves in the course of her employment with defendant-employer CVS. This injury involved predominately the left side of plaintiff's low back. Defendants CVS and GAB Robins accepted this claim on a medicals only basis on a Form 60 filed June 9, 2006.

9. On May 12, 2006, plaintiff returned to Dr. Sonnino, reporting increased back pain, right leg pain and left knee pain following her March 27, 2006 fall. Dr. Sonnino diagnosed plaintiff with a possible recurrent disc herniation and referred her for a repeat MRI. Plaintiff underwent a lumbar MRI on May 27, 2006, which revealed no recurrent disc herniation.

10. On May 29, 2006, plaintiff's supervisor, Sylvia Blake, fired plaintiff for insubordination. Plaintiff testified that on or about May 26, 2006, she argued with her supervisor regarding her job performance. Later that day, plaintiff again spoke to Ms. Blake on the telephone and got so angry that she used profanity on the phone. On Monday, May 29, 2006, plaintiff was terminated for insubordination. Plaintiff alleged that her firing was partially related to her physical inability to fulfill the duties of her job since her injury.

11. Dr. Sonnino wrote plaintiff out of work on May 30, 2006. From June 9, 2006 until July 21, 2006, plaintiff worked part-time as a desk clerk with the Duke of Dare Motor *Page 6 Lodge.

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Ambrose v. Cvs Pharmacy, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ambrose-v-cvs-pharmacy-ncworkcompcom-2008.