Brockman v. Dade Division-American Hospital Supply
| Decision Date | 27 October 1980 |
| Docket Number | DIVISION-AMERICAN,No. QQ-207,QQ-207 |
| Citation | 389 So.2d 344 |
| Parties | Lillian B. BROCKMAN, Appellant, v. DADEHOSPITAL SUPPLY and American Motorists InsuranceCompany, Appellees. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Albert E. Harum, Jr. of Harum & Harum, Coral Gables, for appellant.
Summers Warden, Miami, for appellees.
Appellant-claimant appeals a worker's compensation order awarding her 15% permanent physical impairment of the body as a whole. Appellant contends that the judge of industrial claims was in error in failing to make appropriate findings and render a decision on whether a merger of her compensable accident and her preexisting condition occurred so as to entitle her, under Section 440.15(5)(c), Florida Statutes (1977), to a greater disability rating. We find error and reverse.
The judge found that appellant, a research scientist, suffered a compensable accident on March 18, 1977 when she twisted her back during her employment. He also found that appellant had suffered a series of accidents or physical ailments over the past years. In 1952, while water skiing, she suffered a cracked oscalcis. In 1956 she was involved in an automobile collision, sustaining injury to her right knee and low back, a concussion and bruises. In 1961 a lumbar laminectomy was performed. She also suffers from osteoporosis, and was treated in 1976 for a problem in her left hip. The medical evidence, as summarized in the judge's order, included the opinion of Dr. Mims who rated appellant as having a 35% permanent partial disability of the body as a whole, with 25% preexisting the accident of March 18, 1977, with 10% resulting from the compensable accident. Dr. Weissman was of the opinion that appellant was permanently and totally disabled due to osteoporosis with compression fractures, and multiple knee and disc problems. He was unable to give a separate percentage disability for any single physical problem. Dr. Kalbac could find no objective evidence of any disability attributable to the injury of March 18, 1977, while Dr. Holmes was of the opinion that she had not yet reached maximum medical improvement.
The judge resolved the conflicts in the medical evidence by finding that the claimant reached maximum medical improvement on January 26, 1978; that she suffers a 15% residual physical impairment of the body as a whole resulting from the accident of March 18, 1977; and that the balance of her disability is not related to her accident of March 18, 1977. Appellant contends, and we agree, that the evidence is susceptible to a finding that by reason of appellant's preexisting condition, her compensable accident resulted in a disability which is greater than that which would have resulted from the compensable accident alone, so that a higher disability rating is mandated by Section 440.15(5)(c). See Thomas v. T & T Trucking, 382 So.2d 449 (Fla. 1st DCA 1980); Chaffee v. Miami...
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Herb's Exxon v. Whatmough
...notice of hearing did refer to such benefits, the claim was properly before the deputy. Indeed, in Brockman v. Dade Division-American Hospital Supply, 389 So.2d 344 (Fla. 1st DCA 1980), we held that where the evidence in a workers' compensation case included testimony of claimant's preexist......
- Dade Division-American Hospital Supply v. Brockman