Saunders v. Edenton Ob/Gyn Center

• Decision Date: 16 June 2000
• Docket Number: No. 469A99.,469A99.
• Citation: 352 N.C. 136,530 S.E.2d 62
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court
• Parties: Barbara SAUNDERS, Employee, v. EDENTON OB/GYN CENTER, Employer, and State Farm Fire & Casualty Company, Carrier.

530 S.E.2d 62

352 N.C. 136

Barbara SAUNDERS, Employee, v. EDENTON OB/GYN CENTER, Employer, and State Farm Fire & Casualty Company, Carrier.

No. 469A99.

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

June 16, 2000.

The Twiford Law Firm, L.L.P., by Branch W. Vincent, III, Manteo, for plaintiff-appellee.

Brooks, Stevens & Pope, P.A., by Michael C. Sigmon and Joy H. Brewer, Cary, for defendant-appellants. LAKE, Justice.

This case arises from proceedings before the North Carolina Industrial Commission (the Commission) and primarily raises the issues of whether, under the facts of this case, there was an ongoing presumption of total disability in favor of plaintiff and, if so, whether defendants rebutted that presumption.

On 7 December 1992, plaintiff Barbara Saunders, an employee of Edenton Ob/Gyn Center (Edenton), was injured while attempting to break the fall of a patient who had fainted. Ms. Saunders stopped working on 31 December 1992 because of back pain resulting from her injury. The parties executed a Form 21, "Agreement for Compensation for Disability," on 28 January 1993, which the Commission approved on 19 March 1993. The agreement specified plaintiff had returned to work on 28 January 1993 and had received $231.68, the compensable amount applicable to plaintiff for total disability pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 97-29, for the four weeks she was out of work between 31 December 1992 and 28 January 1993. On 14 April 1993, the parties executed a Form 26, "Supplemental Memorandum of Agreement as to Payment of Compensation," which the Commission approved on 24 May 1993, reflecting that plaintiff did not actually return to work at Edenton until 8 March 1993, at which time her weekly earning power "was increased" from "$-0-" to "varies" for "necessary" weeks, and wherein the parties agreed that plaintiff had a disability of "temp. partial disability."

As of 2 June 1993, plaintiff's physician noted that plaintiff was working full time, although she was not performing any significant lifting and continued to experience pain and tightening in her neck. Plaintiff was assessed as having reached maximum medical improvement on 21 September 1993, and on 30 December 1993, Dr. Helen Harmon assigned a three percent permanent partial impairment rating to plaintiff's cervical spine.

Plaintiff worked full time until 20 October 1993, at which time she resigned from her position at Edenton because of pain from her injury and stress from the lack of sleep caused by her pain. Although plaintiff asked her office manager if there was a lighter-duty job in the Edenton office, the manager advised plaintiff that no such job was available.

In 1994, plaintiff worked as a secretary two to four hours per week for Saunders & Sons, Inc., a family-owned construction company, and earned $37.53 per week, for a total of $3,600.00 in 1994. After a year, she left that employment because the company could no longer afford to pay her, and on 5 May 1995, she found employment at Chowan Hospital as a ward secretary. Plaintiff worked thirty-six hours per week until she resigned on 17 September 1995 because of the recurrence of symptoms associated with her 1992 back injury, including muscle spasms and pain and stiffness in her neck and back. Plaintiff earned a total of $4,180.24 working for Chowan Hospital.

On 29 March 1995, plaintiff filed a Form 33, "Request that Claim be Assigned for Hearing," indicating that she believed she was entitled to permanent total disability from the date of her resignation from Edenton on 20 October 1993. The case was heard by a deputy commissioner, who filed an opinion and award on 18 September 1997 concluding defendants had successfully rebutted the presumption of disability by showing that plaintiff's job with Edenton was suitable to her restrictions, that plaintiff resigned for reasons unrelated to her compensable injury, and that plaintiff obtained two other jobs which demonstrated her retention of wage-earning capacity. The deputy commissioner denied temporary total, temporary partial, and permanent total compensation claims and awarded nine weeks of permanent partial impairment compensation.

Plaintiff appealed to the full Commission. The Commission, with one commissioner dissenting, filed an opinion and award on 15 July 1998, finding, inter alia, that as a result of her traumatic incident on 7 December 1992, plaintiff was unable to earn wages in her former position or in any other employment except for the weeks she was employed by Saunders & Sons, Inc. and Chowan Hospital and that in those positions, plaintiff was capable of earning only reduced wages. The Commission concluded that the Form 21 agreement for compensation "created a presumption of continuing disability in plaintiff's favor" and that defendants had "not presented evidence sufficient to rebut the presumption of continued disability raised by the approved Form 21 Agreement." Based on their findings of fact and conclusions of law, the Commission reversed the holding of the deputy commissioner and awarded plaintiff the following: temporary total disability compensation from 20 October 1993, the date of her resignation from Edenton, through such time as she returns to work, with adjustment for the weeks in 1994 and 1995 that she was able to work for Saunders & Sons and Chowan Hospital; temporary partial disability for the weeks she was able to work for Saunders & Sons and Chowan Hospital; and all medical expenses.

Defendants appealed to the North Carolina Court of Appeals, which, with one judge dissenting, affirmed the opinion and award of the Commission. Defendants gave notice of appeal to this Court on the basis of the dissent from the Court of Appeals and petitioned for discretionary review of additional issues, which was granted on 2 December 1999.

Defendants first contend the terms of the Form 21 and Form 26 agreements in the instant case do not establish a presumption of ongoing total disability. For the reasons stated hereinafter, we agree.

Settlement agreements between the parties, approved by the Commission pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 97-17, are binding on the parties and enforceable, if necessary, by court decree. Pruitt v. Knight Publishing Co., 289 N.C. 254, 258, 221 S.E.2d 355, 358 (1976). The Commission and the Court of Appeals correctly acknowledged precedent establishing that an approved Form 21 agreement is considered a settlement between the parties, which results in a rebuttable presumption of continuing disability. See Saums v. Raleigh Community Hosp., 346 N.C. 760, 763, 487 S.E.2d 746, 749 (1997)

; Watkins v. Central Motor Lines, Inc., 279 N.C. 132, 137, 181 S.E.2d 588, 592 (1971); Franklin v. Broyhill Furniture Indus., 123 N.C.App. 200, 205, 472 S.E.2d 382, 386,

cert. denied,

344 N.C. 629, 477 S.E.2d 39 (1996); Dalton v. Anvil Knitwear, 119 N.C.App. 275, 283, 458 S.E.2d 251, 257,

disc. rev. denied and cert. denied, 341 N.C. 647, 462 S.E.2d 507 (1995); Radica v. Carolina Mills, 113 N.C.App. 440, 447, 439 S.E.2d 185, 190 (1994). In all of the aforementioned cases, however, the presumption of continuing disability was established because the agreement between the...