Odom v. FEDEX GROUND PACKAGE SYSTEM, INC.

22 So. 3d 362, 2009 Miss. App. LEXIS 768, 2009 WL 3757371
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedNovember 10, 2009
Docket2009-WC-00444-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 22 So. 3d 362 (Odom v. FEDEX GROUND PACKAGE SYSTEM, INC.) 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
Odom v. FEDEX GROUND PACKAGE SYSTEM, INC., 22 So. 3d 362, 2009 Miss. App. LEXIS 768, 2009 WL 3757371 (Mich. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinion

ISHEE, J.,

for the Court.

¶ 1. The Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission (Commission) affirmed the administrative law judge’s denial of workers’ compensation benefits to Joshua Odom. Odom then appealed to the Circuit Court of Forrest County, which affirmed the Commission’s judgment. Aggrieved, Odom appeals and argues that it was in error to deny his claim for workers’ compensation benefits. Finding no error, we affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ 2. Odom was a student at Jones Community College and a part-time employee with FedEx Ground in Hattiesburg, Mis *363 sissippi. He began working for FedEx in the summer of 2002. He generally worked weekdays from 5:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m., for approximately fifteen to twenty hours per week. In December 2003, Odom experienced pain in his back while at work. Odom filed a petition to controvert on January 18, 2005. In it, he claimed that the injury occurred on December 14, 2003, and that his supervisor allowed him to go home early that night.

¶ 3. Odom claimed that, after the injury, he visited Dr. John Beamon, at the Family Care Clinic, complaining about back pain. The first of these visits occurred on December 11, 2003. Odom indicated that he may not have told Dr. Beamon that the injury occurred at work, and it was shown that Odom’s record from the visit to Dr. Beamon’s contained a notation of “rein-jured.” Odom returned to see Dr. Beam-on on December 16, 2003, at which time he was referred to Dr. Michael Molleston, with Wesley Medical Center.

¶ 4. On December 18, 2003, Odom went to the emergency room at Wesley. He indicated on the patient information form that the injury was not work related. His record from that visit reflected the following: chronic back pain that began six months prior, a recent turning injury at home, and prior chronic back pain. When Odom returned to Wesley on December 20, his record reflected the following: pri- or back injury/pain, a recent lifting/turning/bending injury at work, and that the back pain began twenty-two weeks prior. On January 7, 2004, Dr. Molleston diagnosed Odom with a ruptured disc and severe sciatica, and Dr. Molleston later performed surgery on Odom to correct the problem. Odom told Dr. Molleston that he had begun experiencing back pain approximately ten or eleven months ago and that he had been referred to a doctor at that time. However, he also told Dr. Molleston that he had hurt his back lifting a thirty-five pound sack of parcels at work.

¶ 5. At Dr. Molleston’s deposition, he testified that Odom’s symptoms were consistent with the lifting injury that Odom described, and Dr. Molleston thought that the injuries were work related. He did not believe that Odom could have worked at FedEx since 2002 with the ruptured disc. More likely, the injury had likely occurred between three weeks and three months before Dr. Molleston first saw Odom. Following Odom’s surgery, Dr. Molleston initially told Odom not to lift anything more than thirty pounds, but the doctor indicated that Odom could return to work with no restrictions after May 3, 2004. However, as of February 2006, Dr. Molleston had placed a forty to fifty pound lifting restriction on Odom.

¶ 6. Pattie Boone was the manager of the Hattiesburg FedEx office. She participated in two depositions. She said that there was never a work-related injury reported to her by Odom or his supervisor, Willie Thompson. Apparently, Thompson had told Boone that he allowed Odom to leave early on the night Odom allegedly injured his back because his back “felt funny.” Neither Thompson nor anyone else filed an accident report concerning the incident. According to Boone, it was FedEx’s policy to file an accident report whenever there was an accident, and the lack of such a report indicated that Odom never reported an accident. Also, Boone testified that Odom had suffered a skateboarding accident in the summer of 2003. She said that she had given Odom the name of a chiropractor that she recommended.

¶ 7. At the hearing on the matter, Odom admitted that he was unsure of the date of his injury. He agreed that it must not have occurred on December 14. He said that he visited Dr. Beamon the day after *364 the injury, so, since Dr. Beamon’s records indicated a December 11 visit, the injury must have occurred on December 10. When Odom was shown his time sheet for FedEx, he was unable to explain why it reflected that he worked December 10, 11, and 12. Additionally, Odom testified that he went home early that night and never returned to work for FedEx. He said that, while lifting a sack of parcels, he felt a sharp pain in the left side of his back and in his leg. Between December 10, 2003, and his surgery on January 26, 2004, he said that he could do nothing but lie in bed all day. He could not explain why Dr. Beamon’s records did not reflect that his back pain was work related. As for the records at Wesley, Odom said that his mother filled out those forms for him. Odom admitted that he had experienced back pain prior to the alleged injury; however, the exact time when he began experiencing back problems was unclear. He had been referred to see a Dr. Patterson, 1 but according to Dr. Molleston, Odom never visited Dr. Patterson because he had to quit work and lost his medical insurance. However, Odom maintained that he experienced back problems the entire time he worked for FedEx and that he was referred to Dr. Patterson while working for FedEx. Odom also admitted that he liked skateboarding, but he denied Boone’s statement that he had injured his back while skateboarding.

¶ 8. At the time of the hearing, Odom was working for the Ford dealership in Hattiesburg. He was working full-time delivering parts and making approximately $200 per week more than when he worked at FedEx. FedEx had not paid Odom any benefits, but Vocational Rehabilitation had provided some assistance to pay for his medical treatment.

¶ 9. The administrative law judge determined that Odom had not met his burden of proving that he had sustained a compen-sable work-related injury. The judge concluded that to find for Odom, he “would have to indulge in excessive speculation and conjecture because of the numerous contradictions and inconsistencies in [Odom’s] story....” Therefore, the judge denied Odom’s claim for workers’ compensation benefits. Odom appealed that ruling to the Commission, which affirmed the administrative law judge’s ruling. Odom then appealed to the circuit court, which affirmed the Commission’s decision. Following that judgment, Odom filed the present appeal.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶ 10. This Court applies a limited standard when reviewing a decision of the Commission. Ameristar Casino-Vicksburg v. Rawls, 2 So.3d 675, 679(¶ 16) (Miss.2008) (citation omitted). As the Commission is the ultimate fact-finder, we will only reverse its decision if it was not supported by substantial evidence, was arbitrary and capricious, or if it contained an error of law. Id. ‘When, as here, the Commission accepts the [administrative law judge’s] findings and conclusions, we review those findings and conclusions as those of the Commission.” Id. (citation omitted).

DISCUSSION

¶ 11.

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Bluebook (online)
22 So. 3d 362, 2009 Miss. App. LEXIS 768, 2009 WL 3757371, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/odom-v-fedex-ground-package-system-inc-missctapp-2009.