Brinn v. Weyerhaeuser Company

CourtNorth Carolina Industrial Commission
DecidedDecember 18, 2002
DocketI.C. NO. 835053
StatusPublished

This text of Brinn v. Weyerhaeuser Company (Brinn v. Weyerhaeuser Company) 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
Brinn v. Weyerhaeuser Company, (N.C. Super. Ct. 2002).

Opinions

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Upon review of the competent evidence of record with reference to the errors assigned, and finding no good grounds to receive further evidence or to rehear the parties or their representatives, the Full Commission upon reconsideration of the evidence modifies and affirms the Opinion and Award of the Deputy Commissioner.

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The Full Commission finds as fact and concludes as matters of law the following, which were entered into by the parties at the hearing before the Deputy Commissioner and in a Pre-Trial Agreement as:

STIPULATIONS
1. The Industrial Commission has jurisdiction over the subject matter of this case, the parties are properly before the Commission, and the parties were subject to and bound by the provisions of the North Carolina Workers' Compensation Act at all relevant times.

2. Defendant was a duly qualified self-insured.

3. The employee-employer relationship existed between the parties at all relevant times. Plaintiff was employed by defendant at its Plymouth facility from 8 March 1967 until 11 March 1998.

4. Plaintiff was last injuriously exposed to asbestos during his employment with defendant, Weyerhauser Company, and specifically, that plaintiff was exposed to asbestos for 30 days within a seven-month period, as is required by N.C. Gen. Stat. § 97-57.

5. Following the hearing, defendant stipulated that plaintiff does suffer from an occupational disease, asbestosis; further, that he was diagnosed with asbestosis on 9 December 1997, by Dr. Dennis Darcey. Defendant further stipulates that a Member of the North Carolina Occupational Disease Panel confirmed this diagnosis and that these medical records will be stipulated into evidence for consideration by the undersigned.

6. By separate stipulation signed by counsel for both parties on 13 August 2002, it is stipulated that plaintiff's wages were sufficient to earn the maximum compensation benefits available under the North Carolina Workers' Compensation Act in the year 2000, which was $588.00.

7. Plaintiff contends that he is entitled to an award of a 10% penalty pursuant to the provisions of N.C. Gen. Stat. § 97-12, and defendant agreed that should the claim be found compensable, defendant agreed by compromise to pay an amount of 5% of all compensation, exclusive of medical compensation, as an award of penalty pursuant thereto.

8. The parties agreed further that should plaintiff be awarded compensation, the undersigned may include language removing plaintiff from further exposure to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 97-62-5(b).

9. The parties further agree that should the undersigned determine N.C. Gen. Stat. § 97-60 through § 97-61.7 to be unconstitutional, additional testimony could be offered by the parties on the issues of loss of wage earning capacity and/or disability.

10. The following medical records were received into evidence:

a. Dr. Dennis Darcey,

b. Dr. Fred M. Dula,

c. Dr. James Johnson,

d. Dr. Phillip Lucas,

e. Dr. Clinton D. Young,

f. Dr. James A. Merchant, and

g. Dr. Allen Hayes.

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Based upon all the competent evidence adduced at the hearing and the reasonable inferences therefrom, the Full Commission makes the following:

FINDINGS OF FACT
1. This matter came on for hearing before the Industrial Commission after plaintiff's first examination and medical reports establishing that he has asbestosis.

2. Plaintiff has contracted asbestosis and asbestosis-related pleural disease as a result of his injurious exposure to the hazards of asbestos while employed by defendant, Weyerhaeuser Company.

3. Based upon the stipulated description of plaintiff's job duties while employed by defendant and other evidence submitted, the Full Commission finds as fact that plaintiff was exposed to asbestos containing materials on a regular basis for more than 30 working days or parts thereof inside of seven consecutive months from 1967 until 11 March 1998.

4. Plaintiff actively worked for defendant, Weyerhaeuser Company, at its facility in Plymouth, North Carolina, from 8 March 1967 until 11 March 1998. Plaintiff has been disabled from work since 11 March 1998 due to a work-related injury to his back. Despite the stipulated dates of employment, plaintiff continued to be employed at defendant's facility in Plymouth through the date of the hearing before Deputy Commissioner Berger and up to at least the date of the closing of the evidentiary record.

5. Weyerhauser manufactures paper, pulp, and paper products. Plaintiff has held several different job positions during his 32 years of employment at the Plymouth facility. He worked for several years as a mechanic on the recovery boilers, which are used to cook the wood pulp. Plaintiff also worked on the large paper machines. He was exposed to asbestos dust and fibers throughout his employment.

6. Plaintiff was initially exposed to asbestos dust in the boiler room where the boilers and the pipes were wrapped in asbestos insulation and kept in place by chicken wire. He was also exposed to asbestos dust when employees or work crews would come in and work directly on the insulation covering pipes and boilers. Compressed air was used to blow asbestos dust off the pipes and boilers, creating clouds of circulating asbestos dust.

7. Plaintiff was further exposed to asbestos while working as a mechanic on the paper machines, as the big clutches on the paper machines were made of asbestos. Plaintiff would use an air hose to blow down the clutches and to clean off brake disks. He would also grind off asbestos gaskets when they stuck to pipes.

8. Plaintiff was not provided a respirator to protect against his exposure from asbestos dust in the workplace.

9. Plaintiff has never smoked cigarettes.

10. Defendant has admitted plaintiff does suffer from asbestosis, an occupational disease. This diagnosis has been confirmed through medical documentation from Dennis Darcey, M.D., Fred M. Dula, M.D., Phillip H. Lucas, M.D., Allen Hayes, M.D., James Johnson, M.D., James A. Merchant, M.D., and Clinton D. Young, M.D.,

11. Plaintiff presented to Dr. Dennis Darcey of the Division of Occupational Environmental Medicine at Duke University on 10 December 1997. Dr. Darcey took an occupational history from plaintiff. Plaintiff stated that he had worked for Weyerhauser since 1967 and was currently employed there at that time as a senior mechanic. Plaintiff gave a history in which he stated that over the course of his employment, he was exposed to asbestos dust from insulation materials and from exposure to asbestos dust while working as a millwright and mechanic. Plaintiff reported that his job duties required him to occasionally remove asbestos insulation materials, use an air hose to blow asbestos dust and other particles from equipment including pipes and boilers, and to grind asbestos gaskets from equipment. Plaintiff also reported that he was a non-smoker.

12. It was the opinion of Dr. Darcey that plaintiff's symptoms are consistent with parenchymal lung disease associated with asbestosis.

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Bluebook (online)
Brinn v. Weyerhaeuser Company, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brinn-v-weyerhaeuser-company-ncworkcompcom-2002.