West Fraser, Inc. v. Caldwell

104 So. 3d 889, 2012 WL 104891, 2012 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 17
CourtCourt of Civil Appeals of Alabama
DecidedJanuary 13, 2012
Docket2100696
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 104 So. 3d 889 (West Fraser, Inc. v. Caldwell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
West Fraser, Inc. v. Caldwell, 104 So. 3d 889, 2012 WL 104891, 2012 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 17 (Ala. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinions

MOORE, Judge.

West Fraser, Inc. (“the employer”), appeals from an order of the Lee Circuit Court (“the trial court”) determining, among other things, that Winded Caldwell, Sr. (“the employee”), suffered an injury that is compensable under the Alabama Workers’ Compensation Act (“the Act”), Ala.Code 1975, § 25-5-1 et seq. We reverse.

Facts

The employee testified as follows. At the time of the trial he was 46 years old and had been working for the employer or its predecessors for over 20 years. He had experienced back pain before, but he had never been diagnosed with a herniated disk or a need for back surgery. Although the employee’s time card indicates that he was off work on December 16, 2009,1 the employee denied that he had injured his back in any manner at home on that day or in the preceding week.

On December 17, 2009, the employee clocked in for work at 4:28 a.m. and was assigned to change the “knives” in a mulching machine. The employee testified that, after carrying a 50-pound box of knives up a flight of stairs, he started back down the stairs to retrieve a second box when he felt a “pinch” in his back. He felt a second pinch in his back while walking down the stairs after removing an 80-pound screen from the mulching machine, and that second pinch caused him to drop the screen. After resting for 15 minutes, he proceeded to change out about half the knives when he felt a third pinch in his back. At that point, he ceased working and sought out Bobby Hill, his supervisor, in order to immediately report the injury as he understood the employer required. While looking for Hill, the employee telephoned his wife, Rhonda, to inform her of his back injury. While still on the telephone with Rhonda, the employee found Hill and informed Hill that he had been injured changing the knives in the mulching machine and that he needed medical care. According to the employee, Hill told him to go to the doctor and to keep him informed of what was going on; Hill also told him that he would take care of his time card because the employee was unable to walk up the steps. Rhonda then came to pick the employee up. Two of the employee’s coworkers helped him into his wife’s automobile, and she drove him to Auburn Urgent Care at approximately 8:00 a.m. The employee testified that he did not know that the employer had designated Auburn Urgent Care as its primary-care provider for work-related injuries and that he had chosen that facility because he did not have a personal doctor at the time.

Wilbert “Butch” McCants, a coworker, testified that, on December 17, 2009, the employee had indicated that he did not want to change the knives because the [891]*891employee regularly worked as a crane operator. McCants said that the employee did not have to retrieve a box of knives in order to change the knives because the job only required that the knives already in the machine be “flipped.” McCants was working approximately 15 feet away from where the employee was working, but McCants did not see the employee get a box of knives. He also did not hear the employee express that he was injured or in pain. Instead, McCants testified, the employee simply stopped working and walked off,, passing directly by McCants. Ultimately, McCants finished flipping the knives, which he described as “not a hard thing to do.” He testified that he had not noticed any boxes of knives nearby as he completed the task.

Hill testified that, although the employee had informed him on December 17, 2009, that he was going to the doctor because his back “had been bothering him,” the employee had not, at that time, informed Hill that his injury had arisen from work activities. If the employee had, Hill testified, he would have taken the employee to the human-resources manager to obtain a medical appointment and to fill out a first report of injury, that Hill or the employer’s safety director would have taken the employee to the doctor, and that Hill would have initiated an investigation of the alleged injury. Hill admitted that it was unusual for the employee, who had a good attendance and safety record, to leave work early like he had on December 17, 2009; however, Hill did not specifically inquire of the employee how he had injured his back, and Hill admitted that he did not know of any other possible cause of the employee’s back injury.

Rhonda testified that, on December 17, 2009, the employee telephoned her and informed her that he had been hurt at work and requested that she come pick him up. Rhonda, who married the employee in May 2007, stated that the employee had never complained of back pain to her and that he was not one to complain or to miss or leave work. Rhonda said that, when the employee told her of the injury, she asked the employee if he had reported his injury to a supervisor and that he had stated that he had. According to Rhonda, while she was still on the telephone with the employee, she overheard the conversation between the employee and Hill. Rhonda stated that the employee had informed Hill “that he had gotten hurt and needed medical treatment.”2 However, in his deposition, the employee testified that he had talked to Rhonda before he had conversed with Hill. Rhonda testified that, when she arrived to pick up the employee, three of his coworkers, not two as the employee testified, helped him into her automobile while she stood by in disbelief seeing the employee’s weakened condition.

The medical records from Auburn Urgent Care, dated December 17, 2009, state that the employee complained chiefly of back pain radiating down his right leg “x 1 week” and that his pain was “aggravated by movement no inj.” The employee denied that he had made those statements. The employee and Rhonda both testified that they had informed the medical providers at Auburn Urgent Care that the employee had injured his back at work, and they had no explanation for why the records did not reference a work injury. Rhonda further testified that the employee [892]*892had been in pain, that she had done most of the talking, and that she had mentioned the work injury and the fact that the employee had just left work to the medical providers. The records indicate that the employee was diagnosed with a lower-back strain and muscle spasms and that he was prescribed medication and told to rest from work for two days.

McCants testified that when he left work on December 17, 2009, he noticed the employee’s truck still parked outside, so he telephoned the employee. In their ensuing conversation, McCants did not ask the employee how he had been injured and the employee, who had no responsibility to report work-related injuries to McCants, did not state that he had hurt his back at work. McCants testified that the employee had complained about his back for “way more” than five years but that the employee had never said he had injured his back at work. McCants conceded that he had no knowledge that the employee had injured his back in some other way.

The employee testified that he attempted to contact Hill or “the front office” numerous times between December 17 and December 21, but no one answered his telephone calls. After reviewing certain telephone records, Hill confirmed that the employee had, in fact, made the calls. The employee also sent a text message to James “Chris” Baker, a supervisor working under Hill, but he did not receive a response. Baker testified that he had been out of his cellular-telephone provider’s service area and had not received the text message for some time.

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Related

Threadgill v. East, Inc.
122 So. 3d 215 (Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama, 2013)
West Fraser, Inc. v. Caldwell
104 So. 3d 901 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 2012)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
104 So. 3d 889, 2012 WL 104891, 2012 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 17, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/west-fraser-inc-v-caldwell-alacivapp-2012.