Fisher v. Empire Gas, Inc. of Columbus

770 So. 2d 1002, 2000 Miss. App. LEXIS 443, 2000 WL 1342546
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedSeptember 19, 2000
DocketNo. 1999-WC-01366-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 770 So. 2d 1002 (Fisher v. Empire Gas, Inc. of Columbus) 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
Fisher v. Empire Gas, Inc. of Columbus, 770 So. 2d 1002, 2000 Miss. App. LEXIS 443, 2000 WL 1342546 (Mich. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

MYERS, J.,

for the Court:

¶ 1. The Full Commission of the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission denied James Fisher disability. From that order he appealed to the circuit court which affirmed. Aggrieved, Fisher appeals to this Court raising the following issue as error

I. WHETHER THE MISSISSIPPI WORKERS’ COMPENSATION COMMISSION’S DECISION THAT FISHER DID NOT SUFFER A WORK-RELATED INJURY WAS AGAINST THE OVERWHELMING WEIGHT OF THE EVIDENCE?

¶ 2. Finding no error, we affirm.

FACTS

¶ 3. James Fisher worked for Empire Gas of Columbus, Mississippi, as a retail manager from August or September 1994 until August 1995. The business of Empire Gas was to deliver propane gas to residential and commercial customers throughout the area stores. Fisher was responsible for managing the Empire Gas stores in Columbus and Amory. The personnel at these stores consisted of a store manager, who was responsible for the inside business, doing such things as answering the telephone, billing, and accounts receivable. The retail manager, Fisher’s position, was usually in charge of everything outside the store, including retail sales, setting tanks, painting tanks, emergency calls, and customer service. When Fisher was originally hired, there were drivers who would deliver gas, one from the Amory store, the other from the Columbus store.

¶ 4. In either February or March of 1995, both drivers left Empire Gas, and Fisher was then responsible for all of the outside duties and delivery of gas from both stores. In June or July of 1995, Fisher also became responsible for the Fayette, Alabama store. Fisher complained that he was being overworked, and the president of Empire Gas, Steve Plaster, told him that they were trying to get help.

¶ 5. On August 15, 1995, while Fisher was mowing the grass at one of the stores, he collapsed. He began to feel faint, short of breath, dizzy, he lost his ability to do simple reasoning, and his chest began to hurt. Fisher discontinued the yard work. Approximately two weeks later, on August 31, 1995, Fisher went to the hospital with complaints of feeling faint, shortness of breath, and chest pains. He did not go back to work for Empire Gas after that date. Fisher was hospitalized to rule out possible heart attack. All the tests were negative. Fisher asserted he was required to do more work which was beyond the stress an ordinary person could stand.

¶ 6. Steve Plaster testified for Empire Gas. He was president of Empire Gas when Fisher was employed with the company, but was no longer affiliated with this company when he testified. Plaster testified that he hired Fisher with the thought that Fisher, after a trial of being retail [1004]*1004manager, might make a good regional manager over a number of stores. Plaster testified that the actual sales for the Columbus and Amory stores combined produced the least volume in the region during the year ending June 1995. He stated that Fisher had a time management problem, and that in his opinion, the low sales were a lack of effort on Fisher’s part, though Fisher was very capable of performing the work. At one time or another, Plaster had another retail manager oversee Fisher’s work trying to help teach him how to sell gas and organize his time better. Plaster testified that from September though March was the busiest time of the year for Empire Gas, and the other months are spent getting ready for the winter months.

¶ 7. Carl Bushey also testified for Empire Gas. Bushey took over the position of retail manager for the Columbus and Amo-ry stores after Fisher left. He was responsible for Columbus and Amory from October 1995 until sometime in 1996 when the Amory store was closed and the company merged most of the Amory customers to Columbus. He testified that there were approximately 1,000 customers and that he had no problems working as a retail manager for both stores, having done that job for the past two and a half years. Bushey testified that the winter months are the most busy for the company, and that he did not look forward to the summer months because he liked “to stay busy.”

¶ 8. Next to testify for Empire Gas was Linda Jones, the office manager at the Amory store while Fisher was employed. She testified that she did not think Fisher was overworked and that he spent a lot of time in his office.

¶ 9. Tori Freeman testified next for Empire Gas. She no longer worked for the company, but when she did she had been the retail manager of the Bay Springs, Waynesboro, and Jackson, Mississippi stores. She testified that she was asked in 1995 to assist Fisher as he appeared to have a time management problem. She worked out a schedule for Fisher, but he never kept to those schedules.

¶ 10. Admitted into evidence were the depositions of several of Fisher’s treating physicians. The affidavit of Dr. Donald C. Guild, a psychiatrist, was put in as an exhibit. In this affidavit Dr. Guild opined that Fisher had a depressive disorder, not otherwise specified, and an anxiety disorder, not otherwise specified; however:

I think this patientfs] problems are routed with his excessive work load while at Empire Gas. His compulsive perfectionistic personality combined with his needs to please, forced him into overworking in what would have been an untenable situation and he was unable to leave something undone as he should...
The patient does not realize that symptomatolgy is probably mostly psychological and continues to seek medical treatment and evaluation from what he sees as a physical disorder....

¶ 11. Dr. Allen R. Cooley, a psychologist, testified that he first saw Fisher on or about September 11, 1995, on a referral from David Price, an assessment counsel- or. Dr. Cooley stated that his initial diagnosis was anxiety disorder, not otherwise specified. When he last saw Fisher, in October of 1995, his diagnosis was panic disorder. He opined that Fisher’s initial anxiety disorder and ultimate panic disorders were related in part to his work stress; however, he did not believe work stress was the sole cause of Fisher’s panic disorder. He testified that Fisher is a perfectionist with some hypermanic features and that he brought that to his work position.

¶ 12. Dr. Clyde Alexander Sheehan, a psychiatrist, first saw Fisher on or about October 31, 1995. Dr. Sheehan testified that based upon a reasonable degree of medical probability he could not state that Fisher’s emotional symptoms for which he saw him were related to his work. Fur[1005]*1005ther, he opined that Fisher’s pre-existing personality factors, a depressive disorder, had contributed to the emotional symptoms of which he complained. Tests Dr. Sheehan ran on Fisher indicated that he was a person who more readily developed physical symptoms under stress than the average person.

¶ 13. Dr. William D. Logan, Jr., a family practitioner, who is also board certified in the field of thoracic and cardiac surgery, did not see Fisher as a patient, but reviewed the records of other treating physicians. Dr. Logan testified that the symptoms Fisher presented, and for which he was admitted to the hospital, could certainly be due to fatigue and stress.

¶ 14. Dr. Mark Chatman Webb, a psychiatrist who performed an evaluation on Fisher’s condition at the request of Empire Gas, testified that in his opinion Fisher had a generalized anxiety disorder, and obsessive compulsive personality traits. Dr.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Pickering v. Cooper Tire & Rubber Co.
792 So. 2d 298 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2001)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
770 So. 2d 1002, 2000 Miss. App. LEXIS 443, 2000 WL 1342546, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fisher-v-empire-gas-inc-of-columbus-missctapp-2000.