Lacava v. Albano Cleaners

653 So. 2d 834, 94 La.App. 1 Cir. 1586, 1995 La. App. LEXIS 913
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 7, 1995
DocketNo. 94 CA 1586
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 653 So. 2d 834 (Lacava v. Albano Cleaners) 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
Lacava v. Albano Cleaners, 653 So. 2d 834, 94 La.App. 1 Cir. 1586, 1995 La. App. LEXIS 913 (La. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinion

JzLeBLANC, J.

Defendants, Albano Cleaners and Employers Insurance of Wausau (Wausau), appeal a judgment of the Office of Worker’s Compensation in favor of plaintiff, Elaine Lacava, awarding her worker’s compensation benefits, penalties and attorney’s fees, and medical expenses.

FACTS

At the time of her injury, plaintiff was employed by defendant, Albano Cleaners. Her normal job duties consisted of operating a dry-cleaning machine, sorting clothes, and putting in and removing clothes from the dryers. However, on Saturday, October 19, 1991, she was instructed to perform additional tasks in preparation for an inspection by the owner to take place the following Monday. These tasks included cleaning the dry-cleaning machinery and scrapping stickers (used to mark spots on clothing) off the floor. Plaintiff testified that this work was physically demanding; requiring extensive bending and twisting to reach crevasses under the drum and behind the machinery. She stated that the removal of the stickers also required much squatting and bending over in order to scrap the stickers off the floor. Plaintiff acknowledged that her regular duties also required bending, stooping and lifting of heavy bags of clothes. However, she testified that these duties were easy in comparison to the strenuous work she performed on October 19, 1991, in preparation for the scheduled inspection.

Plaintiff began work at approximately 8:00 a.m. on the day in question. She stated that her back began feeling sore and hurting a few hours thereafter, got worse as the day progressed, and continued hurting throughout the weekend. Further, she testified that she also had shooting pains down her leg, which grew worse with time.

Plaintiffs supervisor was not at work on Saturday. However, plaintiff testified that she complained to a co-worker that afternoon about the pain she was experiencing. The co-worker did not testify at trial. A coworker who did testify stated that she did not hear plaintiff make any complaints of pain. In any event, when |3plamtiff went to work on Monday (October 21, 1991), she told her supervisor that she had been sore and hurting since Saturday. Her supervisor sent her to a doctor that day. Plaintiff never returned to work at Albano Cleaners. On October 23, 1991, her injury was reported to Albano’s worker’s compensation insurer, Wausau.

After examining plaintiff on October 21, 1991, Dr. Charles Baier prescribed medication and bedrest. Dr. Baier saw plaintiff again for a follow-up visit on October 25, at which time he referred her to Dr. Roch Hontas, an orthopedic surgeon. Upon examination of plaintiff on October 28, 1991, Dr. Hontas diagnosed plaintiff as suffering from a lumbar muscular strain. He prescribed a regime of physical therapy and medication. Another appointment with Dr. Hontas was scheduled for plaintiff on December 2, 1991. However, plaintiff testified that she canceled the appointment because she could not afford to see Dr. Hontas once defendants refused to pay.

Plaintiffs injury was reported to Albano’s worker’s compensation insurer, Wausau, on October 23,1991. By letter dated November 11,1991, Wausau denied plaintiffs compensation claim on the basis that plaintiff was not injured by an “accident” within the definition of La.R.S. 23:1021(1). Plaintiff thereafter filed a disputed claim for compensation with the Office of Workers’ Compensation. Trial was held on this matter on November 18, 1993. The hearing officer subsequently rendered judgment awarding plaintiff weekly compensation benefits of $144.09 from October 19,1991 through March 13,1992, medical expenses, and penalties and attorney’s fees in the amount of $3,500.00. Defendants have now appealed, raising the following issues on appeal: (1) whether plaintiffs injury resulted from an “accident” as defined by La.R.S. 23:1021(1); (2) whether plaintiff was entitled to worker’s compensation benefits for those weeks for which she received unemployment compensation; and, (3) whether defendant’s denial of plaintiffs claim was arbitrary and capricious.

OCCURRENCE OF ACCIDENT

In order to recover worker’s compensation benefits, an employee must have been in[837]*837jured as the result of an “accident” arising out of and in the course of his Uemployment. La.R.S. 23:1031 A. In brief, defendants argue plaintiff has not established a compensa-ble injury because the factual scenario she described does not meet the definition of an accident as set forth in La.R.S. 23:1021(1). Specifically, defendants argue plaintiff has. not met the burden of establishing an accident because she “was simply not able to pinpoint a single, specific event which produced objective findings at that time,” as required by the statute.

Prior to its amendment in 19891, La.R.S. 23:1021(1) defined an accident as “an unexpected or unforeseen event happening suddenly or violently, with or without human fault, and producing at the time objective symptoms of an injury.” Following the 1989 amendment, the statute defined an accident as:

[A]n unexpected or unforeseen actual, identifiable, precipitous event happening suddenly or violently, with or without human fault, and directly producing at the time objective findings of an injury which is more than simply a gradual deterioration or progressive degeneration.

Defendants contend this amendment was enacted for the specific purpose of reversing prior jurisprudence allowing worker’s compensation coverage for disability which might appear to be work-related, but which did not meet the statutory definition of “accident”.

This court dealt with the 1989 amendment to La.R.S. 23:1021(1) in Dyson v. State Emp. Group Ben. Program, 610 So.2d 953, 955-56 (La.App. 1st Cir.1992). We observed in Dyson that suggestions that the amendment was meant to exclude people “who are worn down by their work rather than immediately crippled by it are not consistent with the purpose of the worker’s compensation scheme.” 610 So.2d at 956.

The amendment to this statute was again addressed in Robin v. Schwegmann Giant Supermarkets, Inc., 93-2310 (La.App. 1st Cir. 11/10/94), 646 So.2d 1030, 1033-34, a case with facts which we believe are analogous to those in the present case. The plaintiff therein, Ms. Robin, was employed as the supervisor of a full service deli. Due to the illness of other employees, she was required to work |5unassisted for several days. Her duties included lifting turkeys, hams and cheeses, weighing ten to twenty pounds. She was also required to stock the deli, which necessitated moving cases of meats and cheeses weighing forty-five to fifty pounds by pulling them from an overhead position in the freezer. Ms. Robin testified that, during the time she worked alone, she was very tired and her back was hurting. At the time she left work on October 11, 1991, her last day of work, she was experiencing bad back pain. During the night she was awakened by severe back pain, and went to the emergency room of a local hospital. She was diagnosed with a lumbar strain, and bedrest was ordered. In rejecting her employer’s contention that Ms. Robin failed to establish an “ ‘event’ marking the identification of her injury”, as required by La.R.S. 23:1021(1), this court held:

The record contains ample evidence identifying the event which marks the identification of Robin’s injury, namely, the performance of her lifting duties in the deli on Friday, October 11, 1991.

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653 So. 2d 834, 94 La.App. 1 Cir. 1586, 1995 La. App. LEXIS 913, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lacava-v-albano-cleaners-lactapp-1995.