Attala County Nursing Center v. Moore

760 So. 2d 784, 2000 WL 137142
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedFebruary 8, 2000
Docket1999-WC-00644-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 760 So. 2d 784 (Attala County Nursing Center v. Moore) 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
Attala County Nursing Center v. Moore, 760 So. 2d 784, 2000 WL 137142 (Mich. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

760 So.2d 784 (2000)

ATTALA COUNTY NURSING CENTER and Mississippi Health Care Association, Appellants,
v.
John MOORE, Appellee.

No. 1999-WC-00644-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

February 8, 2000.

*785 Betty B. Arinder, Jackson, Attorney for Appellants.

Al Chadick, III, Kosciusko, Attorney for Appellee.

BEFORE McMILLIN, C.J., IRVING, AND THOMAS, JJ.

THOMAS, J., for the Court:

¶ 1. This is a workers' compensation case. Attala County Nursing Center and Mississippi Health Care Association appeal the decision of the Attala County Circuit Court affirming the Mississippi Workers' Compensation Commission's award of all medical benefits associated with the resolution of the claimant's work-related injury in the form of bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome and further compensate claimant for any and all indemnity benefits associated thereto. On appeal, Attala raises the following assignment of error

I. WHETHER THE MISSISSIPPI WORKERS' COMPENSATION COMMISSION'S AWARD OF BENEFITS ON THE FINDING THAT *786 CLAIMANT HAD MET HIS BURDEN OF PROOF ESTABLISHING A CAUSAL CONNECTION BETWEEN HIS INJURY AND HIS EMPLOYMENT WITH ATTALA WAS SUPPORTED BY SUBSTANTIAL EVIDENCE.

¶ 2. Finding no error, we affirm.

FACTS

¶ 3. The claimant, John Moore, was hired by Attala County Nursing Center on August 2, 1994 as a custodian. Moore's principle duties included mopping the center's floors with a heavy industrial mop, cleaning the restrooms by hand using a scrub brush, operating heavy duty buffer machine, and removing the trash, all of which were performed on a daily basis. Moore also moved various types of hospital furniture and equipment daily in order to accomplish the previously mentioned responsibilities. Prior to the instant claims, Moore had a non-work related myocardial infarction on November 25, 1995, which caused him to take medical leave from that date through August 23, 1996, after which time he worked until November 6, 1996, when he injured his right shoulder. Moore has claimed two injury dates while working for Attala. The first petition to controvert was filed in response to an injury surfacing in June of 1996. Moore asserts that this injury was caused by the repetitive nature of the tasks he performed at Attala between his date of hire on August 2, 1994 and November 6, 1996, the date he injured his right shoulder. Moore claims that the repetitive tasks culminated into the bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome he suffers today. An additional petition to controvert was also filed which indicated a shoulder injury and a right arm aggravation of his bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome. The second petition arose from an injury occurring on November 6, 1996 while Moore was attempting to move a large dinette table. As he was moving the table Moore felt something snap in his right shoulder. He began to experience continuous pain and was limited in his ability to raise his right arm above his head and to move or lift anything else.

¶ 4. Attala has admitted the November 6, 1996 compensable injury to Moore's right shoulder and benefits have been paid in that regard. However, while acknowledging that Moore does in fact suffer from bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome, Attala disputes the assertion that Moore developed the carpal tunnel as a result of his work with Attala or as a result of the November 1996 compensable shoulder injury. Therefore, the essence of the controversy before us today is not whether Moore in fact has carpal tunnel, but whether or not the carpal tunnel afflicting Moore is causally connected to the work duties he so performed while employed with Attala. The claims were heard on June 2, 1998 before an administrative law judge. The parties elected to forgo the presentation of live testimony and submitted the issue for decision on the petitions, the medical depositions, affidavits and records.

¶ 5. The resulting decision rendered on August 18, 1998 by the administrative law judge found that Moore's bilateral carpel tunnel syndrome was causally connected to his work at Attala. Attala was ordered to pay all medical benefits associated with the resolution of Moore's work-related injury in the form of bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome and to further compensate him for any and all indemnity benefits associated thereto. Attala appealed said decision to the Mississippi Workers' Compensation Full Commission. The Full Commission affirmed the decision of the administrative law judge on December 14, 1998. Attala's subsequent petition for re-hearing and request for oral argument was denied by the Full Commission. Appeal was then taken by Attala to the Circuit Court of Attala County on January 22, 1999. The Full Commission's decision was summarily affirmed by the circuit court, and its order was entered on March 26, 1999.

*787 ANALYSIS

I.

WHETHER THE MISSISSIPPI WORKERS' COMPENSATION COMMISSION'S AWARD OF BENEFITS ON THE FINDING THAT CLAIMANT HAD MET HIS BURDEN OF PROOF ESTABLISHING A CAUSAL CONNECTION BETWEEN HIS INJURY AND HIS EMPLOYMENT WITH ATTALA WAS SUPPORTED BY SUBSTANTIAL EVIDENCE.

¶ 6. Attala and its carrier, Mississippi Health Care Association, appeal the decision of the Full Commission, as affirmed by the Circuit Court of Attala County, awarding Moore compensation for the bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome he developed as a result of the tasks he performed while employed with Attala. Attala argues that the findings of the Full Commission and the resulting decision to award Moore benefits for the carpal tunnel injury was unsupported by substantial evidence. It is further argued that Moore failed to clearly establish and present medical testimony to a reasonable degree of medical probability rather than the asserted possibility that his injury and/or disability was causally connected to his employment with Attala prior to an award of compensation. In support of said argument Attala cities to Franks v. Goyer Co., 234 Miss. 833, 838, 108 So.2d 217, 219 (1959), for the proposition that "the showing of mere possibility does not suffice to forge the causal link between accident and disability." From this proposition, Attala advances as support of the same that the medical testimony given by Moore's treating physician, Dr. Alan Freeland, failed to assign to any reasonable degree of medical probability that the working requirements at Attala caused the bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome afflicting Moore. Attala further asserts that the holding reached in Hedge v. Leggett & Platt, Inc., 641 So.2d 9, 15 (Miss.1994), is conclusive of the treatment that Dr. Freeland's testimony should have received by the Full Commission in reaching its decision: that Dr. Freeland's medical testimony as to the causal connection between Moore's injury and disability does not rise above anything more than "mere speculation or possibility" and as such should be discounted.

¶ 7. Our standard of review in workers' compensation cases is well established. The Full Commission acts as "ultimate finder of fact," and as such "its findings are subject to normal, deferential standards upon review." Natchez Equipment Co., Inc. v. Gibbs, 623 So.2d 270, 273 (Miss.1993). The instant case involves contradictory medical testimony, principally between two competent medical experts, Dr. Alan Freeland, board certified in the field of orthopedic surgery, and Dr. Michael H. Winkelmann, a board certified specialist of physical medicine and rehabilitation. The former offered testimony favorable to the claimant's cause while the latter offered opposing testimony favorable to the employer's cause.

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Bluebook (online)
760 So. 2d 784, 2000 WL 137142, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/attala-county-nursing-center-v-moore-missctapp-2000.