Cannon v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.
| Decision Date | 05 July 2005 |
| Docket Number | No. COA04-168.,COA04-168. |
| Court | North Carolina Supreme Court |
| Parties | Thomas Neil CANNON, Employee, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. GOODYEAR TIRE & RUBBER COMPANY, Employer, Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, Carrier, Defendants-Appellants. |
Law Offices of Kathleen G. Sumner, by Kathleen G. Sumner, for plaintiff-appellee.
Cranfill, Sumner & Hartzog, L.L.P., by Nicole Dolph Viele, for defendants-appellants.
Thomas Neil Cannon (plaintiff) began working for defendant Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company (Goodyear) in 1976. Plaintiff was employed as a tire builder throughout his employment at Goodyear. Plaintiff went to Doctors' Urgent Care on 22 March 2001 seeking treatment for blurred vision and "tingling" in his feet. An initial neurological examination by Dr. Michael Christopher Moore (Dr. Moore) was inconclusive. Dr. Moore referred plaintiff to a neurologist and an optometrist. Plaintiff scheduled an appointment with a neurologist, Dr. Rangasamy Ramachandran (Dr. Ramachandran), for 10 April 2001.
Plaintiff was changing a drum on 6 April 2001, while acting within the scope of his employment. When plaintiff lifted the hoist off the drum, he felt a sharp pain in the lower part of his back. Plaintiff also experienced a "tingling numbness" in his feet but testified that it was a different sensation than what he had complained of on 22 March 2001. Plaintiff reported the accident to his supervisor and went to the infirmary. Plaintiff was given light duty for the remainder of the day. When plaintiff arrived at work the following day, he returned to the infirmary, complaining of lower back pain and numbness from his knees down to his feet. The infirmary nurse, Wanda Monroe, sent plaintiff to Primary Care Plus. The doctors at Primary Care Plus diagnosed plaintiff with lumbar strain and gave plaintiff light duty. Plaintiff was told to follow up on 9 April 2001 with the company doctor for further assessment. Plaintiff testified that he did not follow up on 9 April 2001 because the doctor at Primary Care Plus "didn't do nothing to [him]."
Plaintiff missed his appointment with Dr. Ramachandran on 10 April 2001 due to illness, and rescheduled the appointment for 18 April 2001. While en route to this appointment, plaintiff was injured in an automobile accident. Plaintiff was taken to the emergency room of Cape Fear Valley Medical Center, where he was diagnosed with thoracic, lumbar, and cervical spine strain, as well as left knee sprain. Plaintiff was prescribed pain medication, was given two days off work, and was given light duty for five days.
Plaintiff was finally able to see Dr. Ramachandran on 23 April 2001. Dr. Ramachandran ordered an MRI of plaintiff's cervical spine. The MRI revealed "a large posterior osteophyte at C-4-5 with indented spinal cord on the left paracentral region." Dr. Ramachandran referred plaintiff to a neurosurgeon.
Plaintiff saw Dr. Robert Allen (Dr. Allen), a neurosurgeon, on 18 May 2001. Plaintiff did not inform Dr. Allen that plaintiff had been involved in a work-related accident on 6 April 2001 or that plaintiff had been in a car accident on 18 April 2001. Plaintiff did not list either of these events on the "Medical History Questionnaire" (the Questionnaire) that he filled out before the appointment with Dr. Allen. Plaintiff also listed the onset of the symptoms as occurring on 1 April 2001. The Questionnaire also asked whether plaintiff's visit was "related to an accident[.]" Plaintiff checked the "NO" box next to this question. Finally, Dr. Allen's notes from plaintiff's visit states: "There is no inciting event for [plaintiff's] symptoms other than he does have a previous history of a pretty major accident as a teenager back when he was around 16 or 17 years old."
Dr. Allen reviewed plaintiff's MRI and determined that plaintiff had a kyphotic deformity in the cervical spine. Dr. Allen described plaintiff's kyphotic deformity as "[i]nstead of [having] a straight spine, [plaintiff] had a very bad angulation to the spine." Dr. Allen's physical examination of plaintiff confirmed this preliminary diagnosis. Although Dr. Allen did not know the cause of the kyphotic deformity, he testified that the deformity was "quite fused," and therefore "suggestive of very chronic phenomena" or a "long-standing" condition. He believed that the deformity was either a congenital condition or "due to trauma in the remote past." Dr. Allen testified that it was "potentially" caused by an automobile accident in which plaintiff had been involved when plaintiff was sixteen years old.
Dr. Allen performed surgery on the kyphotic deformity on 27 July 2001. Plaintiff steadily improved after the surgery, returning to work on 26 November 2001. Dr. Allen testified in his deposition that by that time plaintiff had reached maximum medical improvement. Dr. Allen estimated that plaintiff had sustained twenty percent permanent partial disability to his back.
In an opinion and award entered 24 October 2003, the Industrial Commission (the Commission) made the following pertinent findings of fact:
11. Dr. Allen opined that the accident at work could have been an exacerbating or aggravating factor in the onset of plaintiff's cervical myelopathy. He further opined that plaintiff's kyphotic deformity caused plaintiff to be more susceptible to injury after a specific traumatic incident. Dr. Allen opined that given the long-standing kyphotic deformity, any trauma such as the work-related injury or the car accident of 18 April 2001 could have been sufficient to create plaintiff's current symptoms. Dr. Allen was unable to apportion plaintiff's current condition between the automobile accident when plaintiff was 16, the work-related accident of 6 April 2001, and the auto accident on 18 April 2001.
12. Plaintiff's pre-existing condition of kyphotic deformity was materially aggravated and/or exacerbated by the 1work-related specific traumatic incident of 6 April 2001. Plaintiff's back condition was further materially aggravated and/or exacerbated by the automobile accident of 18 April 2001.
The Commission then made the following pertinent conclusions of law:
1. On 6 April 2001, plaintiff sustained an injury to his back as a direct result of a specific traumatic incident arising out of and in the course of employment with defendant-employer. N.C. Gen.Stat. § 97-2.
2. On 18 April 2001, plaintiff was in an automobile accident which materially aggravated and/or exacerbated his work-related injury and his pre-existing condition of kyphotic deformity.... In the instant case, the subsequent aggravation of plaintiff's condition was not due to an intervening cause attributable to plaintiff's own intentional conduct. Rather, it occurred while plaintiff was on his way to receive treatment for his compensable work-related injury of 6 April 2001; therefore, the aggravation of plaintiff's condition was a direct and natural result of plaintiff's compensable injury. N.C. Gen.Stat. § 97-25.
Chairman Buck Lattimore dissented from the Commission's opinion and award, stating:
[P]laintiff's complaints all regarded a lower back injury on April 6, 2001. Not one of four doctors deposed in this case indicated that plaintiff's lower lumbar pain allegedly experienced on April 6, 2001 definitely caused or aggravated a pre-existing condition in plaintiff's cervical spine.
The Commission awarded plaintiff: (1) temporary total disability at the rate of $620.00 per week from 23 April 2001 through 25 November 2001 and (2) permanent partial disability at the rate of $620.00 for sixty weeks for the twenty percent permanent partial disability rating to his back. Defendants appeal.
We first note that plaintiff has argued in his brief that defendants' appeal should be dismissed on the ground that defendants did not timely file the proposed record on appeal. Plaintiff filed a motion to dismiss this appeal on 10 June 2004, in which he presented the same argument, verbatim. Our Court determined this matter in an order denying the motion to dismiss on 23 June 2004.
We have a "quite narrow" standard of review in workers' compensation cases. Calloway v. Memorial Mission Hosp., 137 N.C.App. 480, 484, 528 S.E.2d 397, 400 (2000). Our review is limited to the consideration of two issues: (1) whether the Commission's findings of fact are supported by competent evidence; and (2) whether the conclusions of law are supported by the findings of fact. Barham v. Food World, 300 N.C. 329, 331, 266 S.E.2d 676, 678 (1980). When there is any evidence in the record that tends to support a finding of fact, the finding of fact is supported by competent evidence and is conclusive on appeal. Adams v. AVX Corp., 349 N.C. 676, 681, 509 S.E.2d 411, 414 (1998). Likewise, "[w]e are not bound by the findings of the Commission when they are not supported by competent evidence in the record." English v. J.P. Stevens & Co., 98 N.C.App. 466, 471, 391 S.E.2d 499, 502 (1990).
Defendants argue that no competent evidence supports the Commission's finding of fact that plaintiff sustained an injury by specific traumatic incident while lifting a drum hoist. We disagree. Plaintiff testified in detail at the hearing about the 6 April 2001 incident. Plaintiff stated that, while changing a drum, he "pulled on the hoist to lift it off the iron bar." Plaintiff testified that this action caused him to pull the lower part of his back and experience a sharp pain. Plaintiff then filled out an accident report and went to the infirmary, where he was put on light duty. Plaintiff returned to the infirmary the following day, complaining of lower back pain, and the infirmary nurse sent plaintiff to Primary Care Plus, where he was diagnosed with lumbar strain. Both Harold Brock, plaintiff's supervisor, and...
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