Duhon v. Acadiana Transmissions

517 So. 2d 946, 1987 La. App. LEXIS 10341, 1987 WL 814
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 7, 1987
Docket86-949
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 517 So. 2d 946 (Duhon v. Acadiana Transmissions) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Duhon v. Acadiana Transmissions, 517 So. 2d 946, 1987 La. App. LEXIS 10341, 1987 WL 814 (La. Ct. App. 1987).

Opinion

517 So.2d 946 (1987)

Scott A. DUHON, Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
ACADIANA TRANSMISSIONS, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 86-949.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

October 7, 1987.

*947 Lorna M. Brasseaux, Baton Rouge, for plaintiff-appellant.

Onebane, Donohoe, Bernard, Torian, Diaz, McNamara & Abell, Mark L. Riley, Lafayette, for defendant-appellee.

Before STOKER and YELVERTON, JJ., and CULPEPPER, J. Pro Tem.[*]

YELVERTON, Judge.

Plaintiff, Scott Duhon, brought suit against his former employer, Acadiana Transmissions and its alleged insurer, Westmoreland Casualty Company, for workmen's compensation benefits, penalties, and attorney's fees. From a judgment dismissing his claim, the plaintiff appeals. We affirm the trial court's determination that plaintiff was disabled through April 22, 1985, but no longer. We reverse the trial court's denial of medical expenses and award the plaintiff $2,976.45 in unpaid medical expenses. We deny plaintiff's request for penalties and attorney's fees.

FACTS

Scott Duhon was employed by Acadiana Transmissions in late October 1984. On October 29, his second day on the job, he was struck on the left side of his head while pulling a transmission from a car. On October 30, 1984, he saw Dr. Ronald Menard, a family practitioner, who diagnosed a contusion on the left upper forehead. During subsequent visits plaintiff complained of headaches, and blackout episodes. Dr. Menard found no objective explanation for these symptoms. This doctor referred plaintiff to Dr. Thomas Casanova, III, an ophthalmologist, who was also unable to explain the symptoms. After being referred to several other doctors, plaintiff was referred to Dr. Steven Snatic. Dr. Snatic, a neurologist, first examined him on February 8, 1985. He found tenderness of the left coronoid process and in the left temporal muscles. He diagnosed plaintiff as having occipital neuritis and temporomandibular joint problems caused by his injury in October. Plaintiff was admitted to the hospital April 14, 1985, and discharged on April 17, 1985.

On October 2, 1984 Acadiana Transmissions had applied for workmen's compensation insurance with Westmoreland Casualty. On the application the only business location shown for Acadiana was the shop in Lafayette. The accident occurred at the shop in Crowley which had opened in early October. The insurance company *948 was not informed of the new location until November 1, 1984.

Westmoreland paid workmen's compensation benefits to the plaintiff through April 22, 1985 at $100.05 weekly, but failed to pay the medical bills related to the accident. Plaintiff filed suit on July 10, 1985 seeking total permanent disability benefits, payment of medical expenses, penalties and attorney's fees. Westmoreland Casualty Company answered the suit alleging that the insurance policy with Acadiana was void and without effect due to material misrepresentations made in the policy application. Acadiana Transmissions filed for bankruptcy and all further proceedings against it, as the employer, were stayed. Trial on the merits between plaintiff and the insurer, Westmoreland, took place on January 21, 1986. The trial court found that although Plaintiff had sustained a work-related injury, plaintiff failed to prove that he was disabled beyond April 22, 1985, the date Westmoreland terminated benefits. The court rendered judgment dismissing plaintiff's suit.

ISSUES

The issues raised by this appeal are: 1) Whether the trial court erred in finding defendant properly terminated compensation benefits on April 22, 1985; 2) Whether the trial court erred in failing to award medical benefits; 3) Whether there was insurance coverage in effect at the time of plaintiff's injury; and 4) Whether the trial court erred in failing to award penalties and attorney's fees.

DISABILITY

On appellate review the trial court's factual finding concerning work-related disability should be given great weight and should not be disturbed, where the evidence supports a reasonable factual basis for the trial court's finding, unless clearly wrong. Culp v. Belden Corp., 432 So.2d 847 (La.1983).

In the present case plaintiff argues that the disability lasted until at least July 1, 1985. As stated above, Duhon was referred to Dr. Steven Snatic who finally diagnosed his condition as occipital neuritis and temporomandibular joint problems. On April 14, 1985 plaintiff was admitted to the hospital, treated with injections, and released on April 17. Before plaintiff's hospitalization the evidence shows he was in fairly constant pain. However, Dr. Snatic stated in his deposition that plaintiff was much improved after his hospitalization although there was still some soreness in his jaw and back of his head. On May 2, 1985 Dr. Snatic noted that plaintiff was doing well and that his headaches were few and mild. Dr. George Dugal, a dentist, at Dr. Snatic's request examined the plaintiff in the hospital on April 16, 1985 and found that mandibular motion, which had earlier been restricted, had increased to a point within normal limits. His pain had decreased and the craniomandibular areas were less sensitive to palpation. He examined plaintiff again on April 24, 1985. Plaintiff's range of motion was still normal, but the left coronoid was sore again. On the May 9, 1985 examination plaintiff was totally asymtomatic.

In the opinion of Drs. Snatic and Dugal, plaintiff's pain was such that he suffered a temporary total disability.

Although another court may have found plaintiff to be disabled until the May 2, 1985 visit to Dr. Snatic, we cannot say that the trial court was clearly wrong in determining that plaintiff was no longer disabled past April 22, 1985. It is clear from the record that his condition responded favorably to the treatment received by the April 1985 hospitalization and that he improved dramatically afterwards.

MEDICAL PAYMENTS

Plaintiff argues that the trial court erred in refusing to award him medical benefits. We agree.

Plaintiff contends that medical bills in the amount of $3,116.45 have not been paid.

Defendant denies, for various reasons, any obligation for medical benefits. Primarily, it denies any disability. We have already dealt with that issue. Next, it contends that very little of the medical treatment was necessary, that plaintiff was trying to get a doctor to find something *949 wrong with him. We have examined the record carefully, and there is no support for the argument that plaintiff was shopping for a friendly doctor. We find the evidence is clear that he suffered an injury to his head on October 29, 1984. He was thereafter for a few months referred from one doctor to the next, seeing several, for symptoms no doctor could explain. When in February 1985 he was referred to the neurologist Snatic and the dentist Dugal, his problem was discovered. The depositions of Dr. Snatic and Dr. Dugal explain that the disabling symptoms of headaches and a constant pain were caused by an occipital neuritis and temporomandibular joint problems, conditions which they believed were caused by the injury at work. Their treatment resulted in his full recovery a few weeks later, a good indication of the accuracy of their diagnosis. We find that all of the medical expenses were necessary and related to the accident at work.

Defendant also argues that there are duplications in Dr. Snatic's bills of $530 and $250, the larger figure being a balance that included the smaller. This is not so. These were separate bills. However, defendant was right to deny liability for $140 of Dr.

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Bluebook (online)
517 So. 2d 946, 1987 La. App. LEXIS 10341, 1987 WL 814, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/duhon-v-acadiana-transmissions-lactapp-1987.