Hedge v. Leggett & Platt, Inc., 92-CC-00853

• Decision Date: 21 July 1994
• Docket Number: No. 92-CC-00853,92-CC-00853
• Citation: 641 So.2d 9
• Parties: Betty HEDGE v. LEGGETT & PLATT, INC., and Continental Casualty Company.
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

Page 9

641 So.2d 9

Betty HEDGE v. LEGGETT & PLATT, INC., and Continental Casualty Company.

No. 92-CC-00853.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

July 21, 1994.

James B. Floyd, III, Tupelo, for appellant.

Dennis W. Voge, Stephen H. Morris, Mitchell Voge Beasley & Corban, Tupelo, for appellee.

Before DAN M. LEE, P.J., and McRAE and SMITH, JJ.

DAN M. LEE, Presiding Justice, for the Court:

The appellant, Betty Hedge ("Betty"), appealed to this Court seeking a reversal of the August 13, 1992, judgment of the Lee County Circuit Court affirming the Workers' Compensation Commission's denial of benefits to her. We reverse, determining that once the employee made out a prima facie case of disability, the burden of proof shifted to the employer, and the employer failed to rebut affirmative evidence of a causal connection between the workplace and the injuries, as well as resulting disability, sustained by the employee.

I.

Betty was the claimant seeking workers' compensation benefits in the hearings below. At that time, she was a forty-one year old unskilled laborer previously employed by one of the appellees, Leggett & Platt, Inc. ("Leggett & Platt"), where she worked on the "glue line" for a short period of time and sewed pillowcases stuffed with polyurethane foam ("polyfoam") for the majority of her employment with Leggett & Platt.

A smoker since the age of nine, Betty had a history of respiratory problems prior to her employment with Leggett & Platt. However, after working at Leggett & Platt for over three years and suffering from pneumonia, emphysema, asthma, and other respiratory problems severe enough to require hospitalization on three separate occasions, Betty's doctor recommended that she only work in a "clean air" environment and that she should not return to work at Leggett & Platt. Betty did not return to work at Leggett & Platt and has not been able to secure work elsewhere. She has been permanently and totally disabled since her last day of work at Leggett & Platt.

II.

Betty claimed that her injuries occurred, or were manifested, in May of 1988, February of 1989, and July of 1989, while she was employed at Leggett & Platt. She asserted that her injuries resulted from inhalation of workplace irritants: microscopic polyfoam dust particles and toluene diisocyanate ("TDI"), which were both present at the Leggett & Platt plant.

According to Betty, polyfoam dust particles would get on her clothes, in her hair, nose and throat. While she was working at the Leggett & Platt plant, Betty experienced respiratory attacks on multiple occasions, some more severe than others. Usually, the attacks would cause her pain on her side or lower back, progressing to coughing and wheezing to the point where Betty could not get her breath. She was required to be hospitalized after some of the attacks, and after one such attack, Betty was forced to miss two or three weeks of work.

A co-worker of Betty's, Beatrice Merritt ("Merritt"), testified that she could see dust in the air at the workplace area where they were stationed. Merritt stated that the dust got on her clothes and in her hair, and that she had to remove it by blowing it off with an airhose and brushing it out of her hair. According to Merritt, Betty's breathing problem seemed to flare up every 2 or 3 months.

After her last respiratory attack at Leggett & Platt on July 28, 1989, Betty did not return to work. Since that time, she has been unable to physically exert herself longer than five minutes without the possibility of collapsing. Additionally, Betty's doctor, Dr. Benjamin Moore, has restricted Betty's work to employment in places with a "clean air" environment. She has attempted to obtain employment, but, for the foregoing reasons, neither Betty nor the vocational counselor with which she consulted has been able to find suitable employment for her.

Betty went so far as to respond to a subsequent newspaper advertisement by Leggett & Platt which sought workers for the Leggett & Platt plant. However, whenever she telephoned Leggett & Platt to request an application or an interview, the Leggett & Platt representative replied that Leggett & Platt was not interested in allowing her to come back to work or submit an application.

III.

Workers' compensation benefits were sought by Betty. She claimed that she inhaled irritants present in her work environment which caused or exacerbated her respiratory problems. As a consequence, a hearing was held before a Workers' Compensation Commission administrative judge to determine the propriety of awarding workers' compensation benefits to Betty.

Dr. Benjamin Moore testified as Betty's medical expert. He stated that he or his partner admitted Betty to the hospital as a result of her respiratory problems on May 9, 1988, during February of 1989, and again in August of 1989. Dr. Moore diagnosed Betty's problems as pneumonia, chronic emphysema, and asthma. As a result of her respiratory problems, Betty's lung capacity (expiratory flow rate) was diminished by sixty-seven percent (67%).

In Dr. Moore's opinion, neither Betty's pneumonia nor her emphysema were work related. However, Dr. Moore diagnosed Betty's workplace respiratory attacks as "bronchospasms," caused by exacerbation of her asthma. He stated that Betty's problems were compatible with aggravation of asthma by polyfoam or glue.

As mentioned earlier, Betty had been a smoker for most of her life, and evidence at trial substantiated the fact that smoke is a significant asthma irritant. Nevertheless, Dr. Moore attributed a proportion of the aggravation of Betty's asthma problems to her work environment at Leggett & Platt, testifying that, "[f]rom her history, TDI exposure was a factor in her asthma exacerbations as well." Dr. Moore also stated that, "[i]f I had to assign a percentage of her work exposure as a contributing factor to her bronchospastic lung disease, the difficulty that she's had over the years, I would say that 20% would be a reasonable estimate."

The testimony of Dr. Moore established a causal connection between the exacerbation of Betty's respiratory problems and her work environment, while Betty's uncontroverted testimony established that her injury arose out of and in the course of her employment at Leggett & Platt. Further, Betty provided overwhelming evidence that, since the workplace aggravation of her respiratory problems, employment was not available to her. At that point, Betty made out her prima facie case of disability, and the burden of proof shifted to Leggett & Platt. Pontotoc Wire Products Co. v. Ferguson, 384 So.2d 601 (Miss.1980); Thompson v. Wells-Lamont Corp., 362 So.2d 638 (Miss.1978).

Dr. Robert Norwood Jones testified as the medical expert for Leggett & Platt and Continental Casualty Company. The substance of Dr. Jones' medical testimony was that, it was possible, but not likely, that there was occupational aggravation in Betty's case. However, when questioned, Dr. Jones would not affirmatively testify that irritants at Leggett & Platt's plant did not aggravate Betty's asthma. Instead, he stated that the cause of her condition could not be determined, nor could any particular triggering influence be identified. Consequently, according to Dr. Jones, there was "insufficient evidence " upon which he could base a medical conclusion that Betty's workplace caused or aggravated her asthma.

That testimony of Dr. Jones did not embrace evidence which contradicted Dr. Moore's statements that Betty's workplace environment at Leggett & Platt contributed to her respiratory problems. Absent affirmative testimony to the contrary, Dr. Moore's testimony remained uncontroverted and satisfied the burden of proving a causal connection between Betty's workplace and the exacerbation of her asthma.

Nevertheless, after the hearing, the administrative judge executed an order denying and dismissing Betty's claims for workers' compensation benefits. Subsequently, the full Mississippi Workers' Compensation Commission ("Commission") heard arguments on the matter but denied disability benefits. Thereafter, Betty appeals to the Lee County Circuit Court which affirmed the decision of the Commission. Aggrieved, Betty filed the instant appeal.

IV.

Two of the issues raised on appeal by Betty merit discussion and are stated as follows:

WHETHER THE LOWER COURT COMMITTED REVERSIBLE ERROR IN NOT FINDING THAT CLAIMANT SUSTAINED A COMPENSABLE INJURY AS A RESULT OF HER ON-THE-JOB INJURY WITH HER EMPLOYER.

WHETHER THE LOWER COURT COMMITTED REVERSIBLE ERROR IN NOT AWARDING COMPENSATION BENEFITS AND MEDICAL BENEFITS AS A RESULT OF CLAIMANT'S ON-THE-JOB INJURY.

Whether Betty suffered a compensable work-related injury is the pivotal question at the core of the two issued considered in the case sub judice. Thus, those issues are considered together.

A.

The appropriate appellate standard to be employed in the review of workers' compensation decisions is well-settled:

The findings and order of the Workers' Compensation Commission are binding on this Court so long as they are "supported by substantial evidence". Fought v. Stuart C. Irby Co., 523 So.2d 314, 317 (Miss.1988); Champion Cable Const. Co., Inc. v. Monts, 511 So.2d 924, 927 (Miss.1987); Penrod Drilling Co. v. Ethridge, 487 So.2d 1330, 1332 (Miss.1986); Georgia-Pacific Corp. v. Veal, 484 So.2d 1025, 1027 (Miss.1986); Evans v. Marko Planning, Inc., 447 So.2d 130, 132 (Miss.1984); see also Dunn, Mississippi Workers' Compensation Sec. 286, 288 (3d ed. 1982). "This is so, even though the evidence would convince this Court otherwise, were we the fact-finder." Fought, 523 So.2d at 317; Georgia-Pacific Corp., 484 So.2d at 1028 (quoting Olen Burrage Trucking Co. v. Chandler, 475 So.2d 437, 439 (Miss.1985)). This Court will reverse an order of the Workers' Compensation Commission only where such order is clearly erroneous and contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence. Fought, 523 So.2d at 317; Myles v. Rockwell...