Metric Constructors, Inc. v. Chiles, AI-392
| Decision Date | 12 April 1983 |
| Docket Number | No. AI-392,AI-392 |
| Citation | 429 So.2d 1292 |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
| Parties | METRIC CONSTRUCTORS, INC. and Aetna Casualty & Surety Company, Appellants, v. Earnest CHILES, Appellee. |
Margaret E. Sojourner of Haas, Boehm, Brown & Rigdon, P.A., Daytona Beach, for appellants.
David M. Hammond of Meyers, Mooney, Adler & Hammond, P.A., Orlando, for appellee.
Metric Constructors, Inc. and Aetna Casualty & Surety Company (E/C) seek review of a deputy commissioner's order which awarded medical and temporary total disability (TTD) benefits to Chiles. Chiles failed to establish a causal connection between the industrial accident and his epididymitis. We reverse.
Chiles, a 27-year-old industrial worker, was injured at work on 27 October 1980 when he picked up a load of concrete and attempted to lift it over his head. Immediately following the accident, he felt pain in his right testicle and later developed a knot in his abdominal area. Dr. Butler diagnosed the abdominal pain as resulting from a hernia. He subsequently performed surgery to repair the condition. The E/C paid all benefits due as a result of the hernia.
When Chiles continued to suffer pain in his testicle, he was referred to Dr. Helmling, a urologist. Dr. Helmling diagnosed Chiles' condition as epididymitis--an inflammation of the tubules which connect the testicle to the vas deferens. After drug therapy failed to cure this pain, Dr. Helmling performed surgery to remove the epididymis.
He testified that the epididymitis was possibly, but not probably, related to the industrial accident or subsequent hernia repair. He stated that epididymitis can occur either spontaneously, as a result of infection, or as a result of some trauma-related injury. He never detected any abnormal amount of infection in Chiles and was of the opinion that it was speculative to connect the industrial accident and epididymitis.
Chiles testified at the hearing that he had never experienced pain in his testicle before the injury and that he had begun to feel the pain immediately thereafter.
Based upon this testimony, the deputy commissioner found that We hold that the deputy commissioner erred in so finding.
A workers' compensation claimant must prove the existence of a causal connection between his employment and the injury. The existence of causation will not be presumed. Gadsden County Board of Public Instruction v. Dickson, 191 So.2d 562 (Fla...
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