Pokratz v. Jones Dairy Farm

• Citation: 597 F. Supp. 326
• Decision Date: 14 November 1984
• Docket Number: No. 84-C-217-S.,84-C-217-S.
• Parties: John POKRATZ, Plaintiff, v. JONES DAIRY FARM and Jones Dairy Farm, Plan Administrator of the Jones Dairy Farm Union Employees' Pension Plan, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Wisconsin

597 F. Supp. 326

John POKRATZ, Plaintiff, v. JONES DAIRY FARM and Jones Dairy Farm, Plan Administrator of the Jones Dairy Farm Union Employees' Pension Plan, Defendants.

No. 84-C-217-S.

United States District Court, W.D. Wisconsin.

November 14, 1984.

Kenneth R. Loebel, Habush, Habush & Davis, Milwaukee, Wis., for plaintiff.

Michael H. Auen, Foley & Lardner, Madison, Wis., Richard E. Hemming, Consigny, Andrews, Hemming & Grant, Janesville, Wis., for defendants.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

SHABAZ, District Judge.

Before the Court in this action is the record of plaintiff's application for disability benefits from the retirement and disability plan offered by his employer, Jones Dairy Farm (hereinafter, "JDF"). The plan is now administered by a committee known as the Plan Administrative Committee of the Jones Dairy Farm Union Employees' Pension Plan (hereinafter, Committee). Plaintiff is seeking disability benefits which were denied him and also seeks compensatory and punitive damages from JDF. Jurisdiction of the claim for disability benefits is based on the Employee Retirement Income Security Act ("ERISA"), 29 U.S.C. § 1132(e).

FACTS

Plaintiff John Pokratz was employed by Jones Dairy Farm from 1967 until June 6, 1983. However, his active employment ceased on June 6, 1980, at which time he was suffering from retinitis pigmentosa, a progressive eye disease, and from depression. It is undisputed that plaintiff is legally blind, and has been since at least September 1980.

Plaintiff applied for disability benefits from the plan in December 1981, although it is alleged by him that he attempted to apply some time previously. His application was submitted to the company.

During 1982, plaintiff was evaluated by Opportunities, Inc., a rehabilitation service. The evaluation report noted that he had worked at JDF for 13 years with duties of night shift clean-up work. The 11 years prior to this employment were spent as a general laborer at a sand and gravel company and as a truck driver and machine operator. Medically, the report noted that his general health was good, that he had been treated for depression and, with respect to his eyes, stated:

Has a diagnosis of retinitis pigmentosa in both eyes. This constitutes a severe visual impairment that has progressively gotten worse over the past 20 years. John indicates that his right eye is worse and that he gets headaches when he has to strain for reading, etc. Light levels appear to help with sunny-bright days being the best. Adaptive equipment does not appear to help.

Record, page 36. It was also noted that his education was limited to a high school diploma. Fairly extensive testing disclosed verbal skills at about the ninth grade level; arithmetic at about the third grade level. He handled assembly tests well, but had trouble with tests involving color differentiation and with reading diagrams. He had adequate range of motion. The report included at-work observations in an orchard and in the rehabilitation shop, where he was assigned duties such as folding library files, tape cutting, and lock assembly. The report concluded that he enjoyed working outside in the orchard, although he was afraid of being struck by branches and would not climb a ladder. He was productive in both the orchard and in the shop, but did not communicate with co-workers or superiors. In the shop it was observed that he mainly relied on his sense of feel rather than residual sight. He refused to ask questions, which resulted in mistakes which took time to correct. Opportunities, Inc. summarized its findings as follows:

Skill wise, John has a lot going for him. His good work habits and good general health along with previous work experience give him a lot of potential for competitive employment. His size and strength are definite assets along with appropriate appearance and attendance/punctuality. His depressed attitude and unwillingness to cooperate with anybody are his major vocational liabilities. He probably would be successful in some sort of a job in which he could handle his vision problems and not have to communicate with anybody. In terms of his vision, he appears to need a fairly structured position that is well illuminated and possibly outdoors or close to natural light. John is concerned about safety and is aware of problems with him being around dangerous equipment. It seems that some sort of routine farm jobs such as a milking parlor or in a packaging—shipping/receiving department would be appropriate, especially if they required his strength and full range of motion capabilities. Individual assembly work would also be a potential for him, however, he indicated he goes crazy on piece rate work, etc.

I feel very strongly that John needs professional help and/or medication to help him with his depression and releave (sic) his frustrated behavior. He obviously needs to communicate with both his family and the community or it will be very hard to get him a job. Even if we were able to get him a job, I can't imagine co-workers wanting to be around him with his current personality problem. His current mental health problem is obviously his major disability with his vision problem being secondary.

It is alleged by the defendants, and one-sided correspondence from JDF shows, that plaintiff had asked that his application be put on hold sometime in early 1982.¹ In August 1982, the application was again under consideration, and an official denial of benefits, dated December 1, 1982, was issued. An identical denial was issued December 7, 1982, after plaintiff informed the company that he had not received the first one. The denial stated as follows:

With the information you have provided to us and our own review of the facts in this case, we have determined that you are not totally and permanently disabled as defined in our pension plan.

We realize that you have been declared legally blind, but this condition in itself does not qualify you for disability coverage under our Pension Plan. The fact that you have been employed for a number of months by Poyer Orchards, have had job training opportunities, and have had other employment placement opportunities available to you indicates that your general health does not preclude you from gainful employment.

In January 1983, plaintiff submitted the report of Dr. Frederick J. Davis, of Davis-Duehr Eye Associates, Madison, Wisconsin. The doctor, an M.D., noted that plaintiff was suffering from retinitis pigmentosa, that he was completely blind except for light perception in the right eye, that vision in the left eye was 20/20 but was limited to a 10% straight-ahead field of vision, that these limitations amounted to legal blindness, and concluded:

Because of your visual field loss, however, you are unable to see to walk or get around without help, particularly in unfamiliar surroundings. This visual loss would preclude any employment that requires accurate vision, movement or contact with moving machinery or moving parts.

Record, page 58. It appears that the Committee treated this submission as a reapplication. Record, page 63. A new evaluation of plaintiff was scheduled with Crawford Rehabilitation Services, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which was performed in April 1983.

The Crawford report concluded that plaintiff was capable of performing occupations such as kitchen helper, packager, orchard worker and assembler. The conclusion also included the following statements:

Mr. Pokratz's description of his limitations is considerably more debilitating than that indicated by the medical records which I have reviewed. It is my impression from meeting Mr. Pokratz and reviewing his material that he is quite invested in presenting himself as a disabled individual and has placed most of his effort into obtaining disability benefits.

* * * * * *

In reviewing the report of Opportunities, Inc., it appears that the vocational evaluators and vocational rehabilitation staff believed that work adjustment training services and job placement services could be successful in returning Mr. Pokratz to competitive employment. The major obstacle to initiating such a program seems to be Mr. Pokratz's refusal of further services. Based on my interview with Mr. Pokratz, it is my opinion that his desire to receive vocational or personal counseling has not changed.

Record, pages 80-81. The interviewer concluded that plaintiff was capable of employment, but that the most significant obstacle to his employment was his own "lack of motivation." The interviewer recommended an investigation as to whether there may be psychiatric bases for this problem, and plaintiff was referred to Dr. Francis Millen for a psychiatric evaluation.

Dr. Millen's evaluation, dated July 11, 1983, noted the previous evaluations and medical history of the plaintiff and concluded:

Considering his overall general medical health and what I could learn about his work history, he should be able to return to some type of gainful employment if he were properly motivated, and would co-operate with rehabilitation programming.

Record, page 99. The lack of motivation was caused, according to the doctor, by a "probable lifelong history of adjustment difficulty and defective coping mechanisms, present since early childhood" as opposed to depression.

On August 10, 1983, plaintiff received a letter signed by William J. Shalhoub, JDF's manager of employee relations, informing him of the denial of benefits:

The Plan Administrative Committee has determined that you are not totally and permanently disabled under the terms of the Plan Section 201(u) . Therefore, your appeal of the company's earlier denial of your claim for disability pension benefits is denied.

It has been determined that you are not precluded from engaging in certain types of gainful employment. In other words, from the point of view of the medical and rehabilitative studies done recently, there is work which you could perform for remuneration if you were

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