High Capacity Products v. Moore

962 S.W.2d 831, 61 Ark. App. 1, 1998 Ark. App. LEXIS 124, 1998 WL 75961
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arkansas
DecidedFebruary 25, 1998
DocketCA 97-880
StatusPublished
Cited by27 cases

This text of 962 S.W.2d 831 (High Capacity Products v. Moore) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
High Capacity Products v. Moore, 962 S.W.2d 831, 61 Ark. App. 1, 1998 Ark. App. LEXIS 124, 1998 WL 75961 (Ark. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinions

John B. Robbins, Chief Judge.

Appellant High Capacity Products appeals the Workers’ Compensation Commission’s award of benefits to appellee Gwendel Moore for a rapid repetitive injury she received while working for appellant’s electrical meter-box manufacturing company. Appellant asserts there is no substantial evidence to support the Commission’s findings. We disagree and affirm.

Moore, a thirty-eight-year-old woman, worked for appellant for approximately five years. She used an air gun to assemble blocks with a quota goal of one thousand units per day. She was required to assemble each block by using an air-powered appliance to attach two nuts to each block. She would hold the parts of the unit with her left hand and work the air gun with her right hand. She averaged using the air gun to attach a nut every fifteen seconds, according to the testimony of her supervisor. The majority of her time was consumed in this quota assembly. Her job required three maneuvers to be repeated in succession all day: assembling the separate parts, using the air-compressed equipment to attach the parts together with nuts, and throwing the units into a box.

She testified she had experienced two prior injuries due to her employment with appellant and that it had accepted and paid for both instances. The injuries were strains in the same location. Neither past injury had left her debilitated to the point that she was unable to return to work at full capacity. With the more recent of those injuries, she saw the company doctor and her own doctor in August 1994 for left shoulder and neck pain. She received treatment for a cervical strain and was released to return to work. She admittedly experienced pain in her shoulder and neck between August 1994 and March 7, 1995. It was only the last incident, the one at issue before us, that appellant declined to accept.

On March 7, 1995, early on in her shift she reported neck and shoulder pain to her immediate supervisor. Her testimony reflected that she had experienced no other trauma or accident to her shoulder and neck other than the prior injury sustained at work for this employer. She testified that the routine of “just constantly working and lifting and pulling on the [air gun] machine and holding the parts” caused her shoulder and neck pain to recur to such a degree that she finally reported it on that day, March 7, 1995.

The immediate supervisor corroborated this testimony, recalling not a specific incident of injury, but only that Moore reported hurting in her left shoulder and neck. That supervisor told her to report this to the woman in higher command. That person told Moore to go to her family physician, not the company doctor.

Moore did see her physician, Dr. Pinkerton, on March 10th, and he diagnosed a cervical strain. He began conservative treatment of her injury, including physical therapy, and ordered an MRI for evaluation of her cervical problem. The MRI revealed spondylosis, a degenerative condition related to use and age, but no significant cervical findings for purposes of her complaints. He took her off work on April 7, 1995.

On April 20, 1995, she was referred to a neurosurgeon, whose examination revealed a two-thirds capacity in the range of motion of her neck. His opinion was that she suffered a cervical strain, and he too recommended physical therapy. By June 1995, she had seen an orthopedic surgeon. His evaluation was that she had a cervical muscular/ligamentous injury that could take weeks or months to resolve. Another physician evaluated her for potential trigger point injections for relief. When seen by Dr. Jacob Abraham at The Pain Clinic, he diagnosed chronic myofascial cervical pain. She continued to see Dr. Abraham off and on until September 6, 1995, when he no longer had any services to offer her.

To prove a rapid repetitive motion injury, Moore had the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that the injury:

(1) arose out of and in the course of her employment;
(2) caused internal or external physical harm to the body requiring medical services;
(3) was caused by rapid repetitive motion;
(4) was the major cause of the disability or need for treatment.

See Ark. Code Ann. § 11-9-102(5) (Supp. 1997); see also Lay v. United Parcel Serv., 58 Ark. App. 35, 944 S.W.2d 867 (1997). The injury must also be established by medical evidence, supported by objective findings. Ark. Code Ann. § 11-9-102(5)(D) (Supp. 1997). Objective findings are those findings that cannot come under the voluntary control of the patient. Ark. Code Ann. § 11-9-102(16) (Supp. 1997).

When reviewing a decision of the Workers’ Compensation Commission, we view the evidence and all reasonable inferences deducible therefrom in the fight most favorable to the Commission’s findings and affirm if the decision is supported by substantial evidence. White v. Frolic Footwear, 59 Ark. App. 12, 952 S.W.2d 190 (1997). Substantial evidence is that evidence a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion. Mikel v. Engineering Specialty Plastics, 56 Ark. App. 126, 938 S.W.2d 876 (1997). A decision of the Commission is reversed only if we are convinced fair-minded persons using the same facts could not reach the conclusion reached by the Commission. Id. In our review, we recognize that this court defers to the Commission in determining the weight of the evidence and the credibility of the witnesses. Id. The issue is not whether we may have reached a different conclusion or whether the evidence might have supported a contrary finding. Harvest Foods v. Washam, 52 Ark. App. 72, 914 S.W.2d 776 (1996). Furthermore, on appeal to this court, we review the decision of the Commission and not that of the administrative law judge. Thornton v. Bruce, 33 Ark. App. 31, 800 S.W.2d 723 (1990). In this case the ALJ denied benefits and the Commission reversed that decision. We have applied this standard of review and find there to be substantial evidence to support the Commission’s findings.

Given the fact that Moore testified that she suffered no other injury or trauma to her left shoulder and neck, other than the earlier compensated injuries to the same location while in the same job, the Commission had substantial evidence to find she sustained a compensable injury arising out of and in the course of her employment for appellant. Objective measurable findings included the documented moderate spasms with “large palpable triggers” on at least two doctor visits in August 1995. This court and the Commission have accepted muscle spasms as objective findings. University of Arkansas for Med. Sciences v. Hart, 60 Ark. App. 13, 958 S.W.2d 546 (1997); see also Daniel v. Firestone Bldg. Prods., 57 Ark. App. 123, 942 S.W.2d 277 (1997).

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Bluebook (online)
962 S.W.2d 831, 61 Ark. App. 1, 1998 Ark. App. LEXIS 124, 1998 WL 75961, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/high-capacity-products-v-moore-arkctapp-1998.