Trotter v. Facility, 27024.

• Court: United States State Supreme Court of South Carolina
• Writing for the Court: Justice BEATTY.
• Citation: 393 S.C. 637,714 S.E.2d 289
• Parties: Melenia TROTTER, Employee, Petitioner,v.TRANE COIL FACILITY, Employer, and Phoenix Insurance Company, Carrier, Respondents.
• Docket Number: No. 27024.,27024.
• Decision Date: 15 August 2011

393 S.C. 637
714 S.E.2d 289

Melenia TROTTER, Employee, Petitioner,
v.
TRANE COIL FACILITY, Employer, and Phoenix Insurance Company, Carrier, Respondents.

No. 27024.

Supreme Court of South Carolina.

Heard June 22, 2011.Decided Aug. 15, 2011.

[714 S.E.2d 291]

Ann McCrowey Mickle, of Mickle & Bass, of Rock Hill, and Stephen Benjamin Samuels, of Samuels Law Firm, L.L.C., of Columbia, for Petitioner.Rebecca Anne Roberts and Byron P. Roberts, both of Roberts Law Group, L.L.C., of Chapin, for Respondents.Justice BEATTY.

[393 S.C. 641] Melenia Trotter (“Trotter”) was awarded workers' compensation benefits for a back injury by the South Carolina Workers' Compensation Commission (“Commission”). The circuit court affirmed. The Court of Appeals reversed in part, vacated in part, and remanded, finding the Commission abused its discretion in denying requests made by the employer and its carrier, Trane Coil Facility and Phoenix Insurance Co. (collectively, “Trane”), for a continuance or to hold the record open for the depositions of two witnesses to be taken. Trotter v. Trane Coil Facility, 384 S.C. 109, 681 S.E.2d 36 (Ct.App.2009). This Court granted Trotter's petition for a writ of certiorari to review the opinion of the Court of Appeals. We reverse.

I. FACTS

Trotter was employed by Spherion, a temporary agency, in August 2004. At that time, she was sent to work for a 90–day trial period with Trane, a manufacturer of industrial air-conditioners in Blythewood, South Carolina.

After completing the probationary period, Trotter was hired by Trane for a permanent position in November 2004. Trotter worked at “the turb and trim station,” which consisted of using an “air driver” (a screwdriver with a blade) to trim down tubes to the same length, and then “turbulating” the tubes by putting a spring into each tube. Trotter was on her feet most of the day and had to “push” into the tubes and move her lower body, particularly her hips, back and forth to perform her work. She spent approximately ninety percent of each workday, from 5:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., engaged in this activity.

According to Trotter, she began having spasms and some lower back pain that extended down her legs in December 2004, which she mentioned to her Team Leader, Darryl Cloud, [393 S.C. 642] and to Duane DeBoo,¹ Trane's Safety Coordinator. Trotter continued to work with increasing discomfort in December 2004 and January 2005.

On Monday, January 31, 2005, Trotter was “turbulating the coil” when she felt “like something popped in [her] back” and experienced “excruciating pain.” Trotter stated she reported this incident to Cloud, her Team Leader.

Trotter worked all that week with worsening pain and “really bad” back spasms. On Friday, February 4, 2005, she reportedly told Cloud and her supervisor, Pat Charleston, that she had hurt her back while turbulating and that she was in pain and needed to have something done. Trotter stated Charleston advised her that he would get DeBoo to come over and talk to her, but she did not see DeBoo before her shift ended and she went home.

That same Friday, Trotter made an appointment for the following Monday to see Dr. W. Scott James, III, a physician with Carolina Orthopaedic Surgery Associates. However, on Saturday, February 5th, Trotter had “[t]errible pain,” so she went to the emergency room at Piedmont Medical Center in Rock Hill.

Trotter was seen by Dr. James on Monday, February 7, 2005. She told him that she had been having pain at work for the past “several months.” He scheduled an MRI and gave her a doctor's note to stay off work. Trotter called Trane's personnel office and spoke to Carlos Mays, who told her to bring in the doctor's slip. She did so and

[714 S.E.2d 292]

allegedly showed it to her Supervisor, Charleston, who made a copy of it. Trotter did not return to work after February 4, 2005.

The MRI revealed Trotter had a large, herniated disc at L5–S1 with marked compression of the right S1 nerve root. Following Dr. James's recommendation, Trotter underwent surgery on February 21, 2005.² Dr. James indicated in his [393 S.C. 643] notes that Trotter likely had a bad disc in her back that was aggravated by her job change.

Within a week after her surgery, Trotter called DeBoo and left a message regarding her work injury, but he did not return her call. Trotter called the personnel office and spoke to Adrian Barnhill, Trane's Human Resources Manager, who arranged a conference call on February 28, 2005 with Barnhill, DeBoo, Charleston, Mays, and Trotter. Trotter told them that she had had a work-related accident and that the turbulator had caused her to suffer a back injury. Trotter had never filed a workers' compensation claim before, so she asked them what she needed to do. They asked her to submit a written statement providing details of the accident, which she did on April 14, 2005.

On May 11, 2005, Trotter filed a Form 50 alleging an injury by accident to her back. Trane denied the claim, maintaining it did not receive notice of the injury until after Trotter's surgery and that there was insufficient proof of a work-related injury.

A hearing was held on September 20, 2005 before a single commissioner. ³ By order filed May 5, 2006, the commissioner found Trotter had established a compensable claim for her back and that Trane was responsible for all causally-related medical treatment, both past and future as directed by Dr. James, and “temporary total benefits from Mrs. Trotter's last day of work and continuing.”

The commissioner noted that she had denied Trane's motions for a continuance or to leave the record open in order to take the depositions of Dr. James and Charleston and to add Spherion as a party. The commissioner stated Trane had the [393 S.C. 644] opportunity to depose Dr. James prior to the hearing, but it chose not to do so at that time for strategic reasons. Further, Charleston was scheduled to appear at the hearing, but he became incapacitated suddenly due to illness. She twice granted motions to hold the record open for Charleston's deposition to be taken, but no deposition was ever scheduled due to Charleston's continuing incapacity, so she closed the record. Finally, as to adding Spherion as a defendant, the commissioner found Trotter was employed with Trane, not Spherion, at the time of her injury.

An Appellate Panel of the Commission unanimously upheld the commissioner's order and adopted the findings of fact and conclusions of law contained therein in full. The circuit court affirmed.

Trane appealed to the Court of Appeals, which reversed in part, vacated in part, and remanded. Trotter v. Trane Coil Facility, 384 S.C. 109, 681 S.E.2d 36 (Ct.App.2009). The Court of Appeals found the Commission abused its discretion in denying Trane's motions for a continuance or to hold the record open for the depositions of Dr. James and Charleston to be taken. Id. at 118, 681 S.E.2d at 41. It found Trane had exercised due diligence to obtain the depositions and the testimony was necessary to the case. Id. at 117–19, 681 S.E.2d at 41. The Court of Appeals vacated the remainder of the circuit court's order and remanded “all issues” to the Commission for reconsideration following the taking of the additional testimony.

[714 S.E.2d 293]

Id. at 119, 681 S.E.2d at 42. This Court has granted Trotter's petition for a writ of certiorari.II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

The Administrative Procedures Act (APA) establishes the standard for judicial review of workers' compensation decisions. Pierre v. Seaside Farms, Inc., 386 S.C. 534, 689 S.E.2d 615 (2010); Lark v. Bi–Lo, Inc., 276 S.C. 130, 276 S.E.2d 304 (1981). Under the APA, this Court can reverse or modify the decision of the Commission where the substantial rights of the appellant have been prejudiced because the decision is affected by an error of law or is clearly erroneous in view of the reliable, probative, and substantial evidence considering the record as a whole. [393 S.C. 645] Transp. Ins. Co. v. South Carolina Second Injury Fund, 389 S.C. 422, 699 S.E.2d 687 (2010); Pierre, 386 S.C. at 540, 689 S.E.2d at 618.

III. LAW/ANALYSIS A. Requests for Continuance & to Leave Record Open

On appeal, Trotter contends the Court of Appeals erred in finding the denial of Trane's requests for a continuance or to leave the record open to depose Pat Charleston and Dr. James constituted an abuse of discretion.

A commissioner has the authority to postpone a scheduled hearing in a workers' compensation matter for “good cause,” which includes such reasons as illness and the need for additional discovery. S.C.Code Ann. Regs. 67–613(B) (Supp.2010); see also id. 67–215(A)(5) (motions).

The granting or refusal of a request for a continuance rests in the sound discretion of the hearing commissioner, whose ruling will not be disturbed unless a clear abuse of discretion is shown. Gurley v. Mills Mill, 225 S.C. 46, 80 S.E.2d 745 (1954); see also Williams v. Bordon's, Inc., 274 S.C. 275, 279, 262 S.E.2d 881, 883 (1980) (“It has long been the rule in this State that motions for a continuance are...