Bullion Hollow Enterprises, Inc. v. Lane, 1288-91-3

• Court: Court of Appeals of Virginia
• Citation: 14 Va.App. 725,418 S.E.2d 904
• Docket Number: No. 1288-91-3,1288-91-3
• Parties: BULLION HOLLOW ENTERPRISES, INC., et al. v. Jeffrey C. LANE. Record
• Decision Date: 16 June 1992

Page 904

418 S.E.2d 904 14 Va.App. 725 BULLION HOLLOW ENTERPRISES, INC., et al.
v.
Jeffrey C. LANE. Record No. 1288-91-3. Court of Appeals of Virginia. June 16, 1992.

Paul L. Phipps, Norton (Wolfe & Farmer, on brief), for appellee.

Present: KOONTZ, C.J., and COLEMAN and ELDER, JJ.

KOONTZ, Chief Judge.

Bullion Hollow Enterprises, Inc. (employer) and its insurer, Old Republic Insurance Company, appeal from a decision of the Workers' Compensation Commission (commission) awarding benefits to Jeffrey C. Lane (claimant). On appeal, employer claims that (1) the commission erred in rejecting the deputy commissioner's findings concerning the credibility of witnesses without articulating its reasons for that decision, and (2) no credible evidence supports the commission's decision that claimant incurred an injury by accident to his lower back arising out of and in the course of his employment on September 4, 1989.

Claimant worked as a shuttle car operator in employer's mine. Claimant testified that on September 4, 1989, he injured his lower back while operating his shuttle car:

I got on my shuttle car on my way up to the mines to get a load of coal and after my shuttle car was loaded I turned around in my seat to go in the opposite direction and my left foot got stuck and I fell backwards out of my shuttle car and struck my back on a piece of metal and it caused sharp pains there in my back, my lower back, and I just got ahold of my foot, pulled myself back up in the shuttle car....

Claimant then went to his foreman, Bobby Mullins, "to tell him what I'd done." Claimant stated that Mullins made a notation

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in his book concerning the event. Although his back continued to bother him, claimant continued to work and completed his shift. Danny Chandler, an employee, testified that on September 4, 1989, claimant told him that he (claimant) had hurt his back and knee while operating his shuttle. Chandler stated that he observed claimant walking with a limp after the incident.

[14 Va.App. 727] Claimant sought medical treatment for his back on October 7, 1989, about a month after the incident. Claimant reported, at that time, that he had sustained a back injury about one month earlier. Dr. Schmidt ordered an x-ray of claimant's lower back. Claimant again sought treatment on November 28, 1989 and December 1, 1989, complaining of lower back pain.

On December 4, 1989, claimant was examined by Dr. Robert T. Strang, an orthopedic surgeon. Dr. Strang noted that claimant was injured "about two months ago when he twisted and fell backwards and injured his back and leg" while working for employer. Dr. Strang's note indicates that claimant kept working and that the back injury bothered him when he sat and when he worked. The report also states that claimant could hardly walk after having slept in a chair overnight at a hospital while his child was being born in November. Finding that claimant was unable to work, Dr. Strang fitted him with a back support. Pursuant to orders from Dr. Strang, claimant did not work from December 4, 1989 through December 11, 1989.

After claimant visited Dr. Strang, he reported the incident to Steve Moore, superintendent of the mines. Pursuant to federal regulations, Moore filed a report indicating that claimant reported on December 6, 1989 that he sustained an injury to his lower back and feet on September 4, 1989, when he twisted his left foot while turning around in a shuttle car. Moore stated that the information for this form was based on facts learned from Bobby Mullins and claimant.

Claimant was laid off from work on January 6, 1990. On...