Signorini v. Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board

664 A.2d 672, 1995 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 405
CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedAugust 29, 1995
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 664 A.2d 672 (Signorini v. Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Signorini v. Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board, 664 A.2d 672, 1995 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 405 (Pa. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinion

PELLEGRINI, Judge.

William Signorini (Claimant) petitions for review of an order of the Workmen’s Compensation Appeal Board (Board) affirming the Referee’s dismissal of Claimant’s petition for reinstatement of worker’s compensation benefits.

While employed by United Parcel Service (Employer) as a tractor-trailer driver, Claimant injured his lower back on December 22, 1988, when he pulled a 1250-pound dolly to prevent it from rolling away from him. Employer issued a notice of compensation payable, granting Claimant benefits. After entering into a supplemental agreement1 which reflected Claimant’s disability, Claimant returned to work for Employer and worked on and off at his previous position of tractor-trailer driver. Finding it impossible to perform the requirements of a tractor-trailer driver, Claimant then worked as a delivery driver from March of 1991 until he resigned on June 27, 1991.2 Claimant resigned on June 27, 1991, for personal reasons relating to company policy violations in his handling of C.O.D. monies he received from customers, and after his resignation, he filed a petition to reinstate benefits, claiming that his condition worsened to the point where he could no longer perform his pre-injury or post-injury position. The Employer filed an answer denying the allegations of Claimant’s reinstatement petition.

The Referee heard the testimony offered by the Claimant that he had injured his back at work in December of 1988 and Claimant’s description of his symptoms and treatment. Claimant also testified that his back pain recurred and that two days before his discharge on June 27, 1991, he had complained to his supervisors of this recurring back pain. He stated his belief that he had been wrongly discharged.

The Employer presented the testimony of three of its employees. Eric Bringe, a supervisor, testified that he was aware of Claimant’s back injury but that Claimant had not complained of pain associated with it. He testified that Claimant had informed him that some mornings his back was stiff and therefore he was extremely careful in the methods he chose to employ at work, and that he used different methods than he did prior to his injury because he did not want to reinjure his back. Donald Guiddy, a manager, testified that he received no reports from Claimant or any other employee that Claimant was having difficulty performing his job due to his recurrent back pain. He further testified that Claimant resigned rather than be discharged for failure to turn in C.O.D. monies nightly, a dishonest act according to company policy. Finally, Susan Orehowski, a loss prevention supervisor, testified that, as a result of an audit, she became aware that C.O.D. monies collected by Claimant were not being turned in nightly according to company policy. She testified that, after she and other employee-supervisors confronted Claimant about those discrepancies, Claimant resigned.

The only medical testimony at the hearings was offered by Claimant who offered the testimony of his treating chiropractor and physician, as well as the unobjeeted-to reports prepared by two additional medical witnesses retained by Employer. Dr. Har-bosky, Claimant’s chiropractor, testified that Claimant suffered from spinal curvature and low back pain due to disc displacement and that his condition was a direct result of the work-related injury. Dr. Harbosky further testified that Claimant could not perform his pre-injury job because he currently suffered from muscle spasms in his back and because [675]*675his many failed attempts to return to work had only resulted in his reinjuring himself. As of Dr. Harbosky’s most recent exam performed after Claimant’s resignation, he opined that Claimant was capable of performing only sedentary work.

The Claimant also presented the testimony of his treating physician, Dr. Baghai, who testified that Claimant was suffering from a disc protrusion at the L4-L5 level leading to compression of the nerve of the left leg, and that this condition was caused by the work-related injury. He testified further that the Claimant could not return to his prior level of activity at work, but that a patient with his condition could work at a light duty level, lifting no more than 10 to 25 pounds. On cross examination Dr. Baghai then contradicted himself by stating that the Claimant could not return to work in any capacity, even sedentary. In rendering this opinion, Dr. Baghai did not consider Claimant’s ability to drive, stand, walk, sit or climb, only his inability to perform lifting.

Claimant also submitted two independent medical reports prepared at the request of the Employer. The Employer made no objection to these reports and they were accepted into evidence by the Referee at the April 8, 1993 hearing. Dr. Carothers, a chiropractor, was retained by Employer to perform an independent examination of the Claimant after his resignation. After this exam he concluded that there was a causal relationship between the Claimant’s current complaints and the work-related injury. He opined that the Claimant was able to return to work at a medium capability level, with occasional lifting limited to no more than 50 pounds and frequent lifting of no more than 25 pounds.

Dr. Talbott, a neurologist, performed an independent examination of the Claimant after his resignation, also at the request of the Employer. Dr. Talbott concluded that the Claimant became symptomatic following his work injury and has remained variably symptomatic since that time. He reported that, although Claimant was not able to return to his pre-injury level of employment, he was capable of returning to medium level employment that did not require prolonged periods of sitting or driving, or the lifting of over 50 pounds. He concluded his report with the opinion that Claimant’s back and leg pain was due to a combination of multiple events sustained over the course of employment, with the work-related injury being noted as a significant contributing factor to his overall symptom complex.

The Referee determined Claimant’s testimony regarding the recurrence of his work-related injury and his reports of such to his supervisors to be incredible. The Referee found that Claimant did not sustain his burden of proving that his injury had worsened or recurred because he did not report the recurrence of his work-related injury until after his resignation. He also found that Claimant had a history of dishonesty and had resigned to avoid being discharged for dishonesty.

As to the medical witnesses, the Referee accepted the testimony of Dr. Harbosky that Claimant was capable of performing sedentary work but rejected without explanation the remainder of his testimony regarding the nature, cause and extent of Claimant’s injury. The Referee also rejected the entire testimony of Dr. Baghai, finding it to be equivocal because of the inconsistencies regarding the level at which Claimant could work, and because an insurance form filled out by both the Claimant and Dr. Baghai indicated a date of injury over two-and-one-half years past the original date of the work-related injury. The Referee did not refer to either the report of Dr. Talbott or the report of Dr. Carothers in his findings of fact or conclusions of law.

The Referee concluded that Claimant did not sustain his burden to prove by competent, credible evidence that his back injury had recurred and that such injury rendered him incapable of performing his duties as a delivery driver for the Employer. He issued his decision dismissing the Claimant’s reinstatement petition and the Claimant appealed to the Board.

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Bluebook (online)
664 A.2d 672, 1995 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 405, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/signorini-v-workmens-compensation-appeal-board-pacommwct-1995.