Hunsicker v. J.C. Industries, Inc., WD
| Decision Date | 23 September 1997 |
| Docket Number | No. WD,WD |
| Citation | 952 S.W.2d 376 |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
| Parties | John HUNSICKER, Appellant, v. J.C. INDUSTRIES, INC., Purler, Cannon-Schulte & St. Paul Fire & Marine Co., and K. & W. Boring, Respondents. 53033. |
John R. Igoe, St. Louis, for appellant.
Frank J. Lahey, Jr., St. Louis, for respondent K & W Boring, Inc.
Susan M. Turner, Hendren and Andrae, Jefferson City, for Respondent J.C. Industries, Inc.
Dan Chatfield, St. Louis, for Respondent Purler, Cannon-Schulte and St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Company.
Before ULRICH, C.J., P.J., and BERREY, Senior Judge, and SMART, J.
John Hunsicker appeals from the award of the Labor and Industrial Relations Commission affirming the Administrative Law Judge's (ALJ) award of $1,677.84 for six weeks of temporary total disability; $4,404.23 for permanent partial disability; and $2,320.00 for medical care against J.C. Industries, Inc. (JCI) for last exposing Mr. Hunsicker to the same kind of repetitive motion conditions that caused his carpal-tunnel syndrome. Mr. Hunsicker's two claims of error are, in essence, the same--that the Commission erred in failing to consider injuries allegedly suffered by him to his right elbow and left upper extremity as pleaded in his second amended worker's compensation claim. The Commission's decision is affirmed.
Mr. Hunsicker is a forty-seven-year-old man who has been employed as a construction laborer since high school. His work history is seasonal; he has worked only in the spring and summer, averaging slightly more than two hundred days of employment per year. His average work week varied from ten to sixty hours. His longest employment tenure at any one company was for a period of ten months. During one year, he was employed by ten different employers.
Mr. Hunsicker began work at Purler Cannon-Schulte Inc. (PCS) as a construction laborer in November 1988, spreading rock and installing reinforcement bars at a sewage treatment facility. He experienced physical symptoms of cramping in his right arm and pain in his right hand and wrist while employed there. Mr. Hunsicker lost no work due to these symptoms, and he did not seek medical treatment for them. PCS employed Mr. Hunsicker until December 16, 1988.
Mr. Hunsicker next became employed at K & W Boring (K & W) in January 1989, installing sewer casings under Highway 54. His work there included the use of welding-related equipment, an auger, a jackhammer, a sledge hammer, and a concrete vibrator. He slipped and fell while working and injured his right wrist and elbow on February 1, 1989. Although medical treatment was offered, he rejected it and did not obtain medical treatment for the fall while employed with K & W. He did not miss work due to the fall although the physical symptoms in his hands and arms continued. Mr. Hunsicker's employment with K & W ended on March 28, 1989.
Mr. Hunsicker next became employed on April 10, 1989, with J.C. Industries (JCI), tying iron concrete reinforcement rods. On May 11, 1989, he sought medical treatment for the symptoms in his right wrist and hand that he first experienced before his employment began at JCI. The treating physician conducted a nerve condition study that showed that Mr. Hunsicker had carpal tunnel Surgery was performed on Mr. Hunsicker's right wrist and hand on June 19, 1989, to treat the carpal tunnel syndrome. Mr. Hunsicker's treating physician released him to work on July 31, 1989.
syndrome in his right hand. The physician also prescribed wrist splints for Mr. Hunsicker to wear at night. His employment at JCI ended on June 10, 1989.
Mr. Hunsicker filed a worker's compensation claim against K & W on June 23, 1989, alleging that his right arm, wrist, elbow, shoulder, neck and body as a whole had been injured in the February 1 "slip and fall" incident while employed with K & W. He claimed that the injury was caused when he "slipped on embankment while going to work and drill holes under the HiWay at the work site ... " He did not claim that he had carpal tunnel syndrome or that work conditions requiring repetitive motion caused these injuries.
Mr. Hunsicker filed a first amended claim on December 19, 1989, alleging the same injuries stated in his original claim and also that the cause of injury was, besides the February 1989 "slip and falls" incident, due to repetitive motion. Mr. Hunsicker stated in his first amended claim that:
[e]mployee, an ironworker, working on rebar was caused to continuously flex his right arm and wrist while operating pliers and wire snippers along with his left hand twisting the rebar wire in repetitive series of motions and over a period of time while employed by his employer additionally slipped on embankment aggravating his right arm and wrist while proceeding to work drilling holes under the hi-way at the worksite aggravated his condition resulting in the above described injuries.
Mr. Hunsicker remained unemployed until the spring of 1990 when he became employed with Florence Construction as a grade checker concerning road construction. His employment with Florence Construction ended in the fall of 1990.
On December 13, 1990, while unemployed, Mr. Hunsicker filed a second amended claim, asserting a new repetitive motion (operating a jack hammer) and new injuries to his left arm, elbow, shoulder and wrist, allegedly caused by his employment at K & W.
The next company Mr. Hunsicker became employed with was the "AFO" company in the spring of 1991. His job responsibilities entailed driving a truck, installing posts with a sledgehammer and working as a flag man. He filed a third amended claim on June 13, 1991, asserting that he sustained additional injuries in his right and left upper extremities. The third amended claim also added the names of the employers PCS and JCI. Mr. Hunsicker's employment at AFO ended in the winter of 1991.
Mr. Hunsicker's relevant employment and Worker's Compensation filings are summarized in chronological order:
DATE EMPLOYMENT SYMPTOMS AND INJURY
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November 1988 starts employment at PCS cramping in right arm
pain in right hand &
wrist
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December 16,1988 ends employment at PCS symptoms continue
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January 1989 starts employment at K&W symptoms continue
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February 1,1989 K&W "slip & fall" incident; no
medical treatment
symptoms continue
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March 28, 1989 ends employment at K&W symptoms continue
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April 10,1989 starts at JCI symptoms continue
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May, 1989 JCI medical treatment sought
examination; wrist
splints prescribed
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June 10, 1989 ends employment at JCI symptoms continue
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June 1989 unemployed diagnosed with carpal
tunnel syndrome
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June 19, 1989 unemployed carpal tunnel surgery
performed
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June 23, 1989 ORIGINAL CLAIM filed against K&W injuries to right
arm, wrist, elbow, shoulder, neck and body as a
whole in "slip & fall" February 1 incident
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July 31, 1989 unemployed released to work
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fall & winter 1989 generally unemployed occasional pain & numbness
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December 17, 1989 FIRST AMENDED CLAIM filed against K&W injuries same
repetitive motion causation added
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Spring 1990 starts at Florence symptoms of general
Construction numbness & pain
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August 1990 ends employment at symptoms
Florence
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December 13, 1990 SECOND AMENDED CLAIM filed against K&W new repetitive
motion causation alleged; new injuries to left arm,
elbow, shoulder and wrist added
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Spring 1991 starts at "AFO" symptoms
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June
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