Cardinal Industries, Inc. v. Dawkins

• Decision Date: 16 January 1981
• Docket Number: No. QQ-426,QQ-426
• Parties: CARDINAL INDUSTRIES, INC., and Insurance Company of North America, Appellants, v. Clarence DAWKINS, Appellee.
• Court: Florida District Court of Appeals

Page 368

392 So.2d 368

CARDINAL INDUSTRIES, INC., and Insurance Company of North America, Appellants, v. Clarence DAWKINS, Appellee.

No. QQ-426.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District.

Jan. 16, 1981.

Donna L. Bergh, Orlando, for appellants.

Gary L. Stump, Wittaker, Pyle, Stump & Webster, Orlando, for appellee.

McCORD, Judge.

Appellants, employer/carrier, appeal from a workers' compensation order awarding certain temporary total disability benefits to appellee, ordering appellants to pay for continuing medical care for appellee and assessing attorney's fees. Competent substantial evidence supports the Judge of Industrial Claims' finding of temporary total disability from November 30, 1978, until January 24, 1979, and thus we affirm the benefits awarded therefor. However, as to the remaining temporary total disability benefits awarded and the award of continuing medical care, we reverse.

Appellee sustained a work-related injury in July 1978 when he strained a muscle in his lower back. He missed no work as a result of that injury and continued his work activities as usual, which included lifting heavy sheets of gypsum. On November 7, 1978, he sustained another injury when he fell from a jack and landed on his hand and buttocks on a cement surface. Following that accident, he continued normal work activities for two weeks, after which time he consulted Dr. Williams, a family physician. Dr. Williams took x-rays but found nothing wrong with appellee, and referred appellee to Dr. Madison, an orthopedist, who first saw appellee in December 1978. Dr. Madison prescribed a corset for appellee as well as physical therapy but did not place any restrictions on appellee in regard to his back. In January 1979, appellee was seen by Dr. Madison's partner, Dr. Mackey. Dr. Mackey found no objective indication of back injury but, based on appellee's subjective complaints, he prescribed a certain nerve treatment and physical therapy three times a week. Dr. Madison testified that during the time appellee was undergoing therapy, he was unable to work. He also testified that by January 24, 1979, he had performed all the appropriate tests and still found no objective findings of any back problems. Consequently, he prescribed no further treatment. Another doctor, Dr. Stanford, began to see appellee in February 1979 and, after taking extensive tests, concluded that he could find no cause for appellee's symptoms, and he had no treatment to offer.

At the hearing, appellee testified that he still suffers pain. He has not worked since December 11, 1978, and, at the time of the hearing in February 1979, he felt he was unable to work. The Judge of Industrial Claims concluded...