Walker Mfg. Co. v. Cantrell

• Decision Date: 27 March 1991
• Docket Number: No. 90-CC-0177,90-CC-0177
• Citation: 577 So.2d 1243
• Parties: WALKER MANUFACTURING COMPANY v. Joe Carroll CANTRELL.
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

Page 1243

577 So.2d 1243

WALKER MANUFACTURING COMPANY v. Joe Carroll CANTRELL.

No. 90-CC-0177.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

March 27, 1991.

Ralph E. Pogue, Aberdeen, for appellant.

W. Howard Gunn, Aberdeen, for appellee.

Before ROY NOBLE LEE, C.J., and PRATHER and ROBERTSON, JJ.

ROBERTSON, Justice, for the Court:

I.

The ultimate issue in this workers' compensation case is the extent of the claimant/employee's permanent partial loss of wage-earning capacity following a concededly compensable on-the-job scheduled member injury. A measure of arbitrariness inheres in any such finding. In the end, we find that the record supports, by substantial evidence, the Mississippi Workers' Compensation Commission's findings that, because of his work-connected injury, the claimant suffered a five percent permanent partial occupational disability by reason of the injury to his left hand. The Circuit Court rejected that view, opting instead for a forty percent disability finding made by the Administrative Judge.

We reverse and reinstate the order of the Commission. Because of the course of proceedings below, we must revisit procedural premises we had thought long ago well settled.

II.

A.

Joe Carroll Cantrell was born on August 22, 1946, and lives in the Gattman Community in Monroe County, Mississippi. Cantrell has an eighth grade education and a work history of various "manual labor" jobs.

At all times relevant, Cantrell was employed by Walker Manufacturing Company, a division of Tenneco, Inc., ("Walker Manufacturing") at its facility on Highway 25 South in Aberdeen, Mississippi. He was earning approximately $350.00 per week. Walker Manufacturing is a self-insurer under the Mississippi Workers' Compensation Act.

Cantrell describes his job with Walker Manufacturing as that of a "setup man." On September 9, 1985, Cantrell was operating a machine known as a vector bender. He was loading a pipe on the auto-loader, and the bender was bending the pipe at the same time. Somehow a piece of pipe crushed his left hand. Cantrell was immediately seen and treated by Dr. Robert E. Coghlan, a family practitioner in Aberdeen, who "cleaned his hand and sewed it up and gave him two pills."

The following morning, Cantrell was referred to Dr. Charles S. Rhea, orthopedic surgeon, of Columbus, Mississippi. On September 11, Dr. Rhea found Cantrell suffering a painful neuroma of the ring finger on his left hand and sought surgically to repair the tendons in his patient's hand. Cantrell experienced difficulties, and, on October 8, 1985, Dr. Rhea performed a second surgical procedure. Dr. Rhea followed Cantrell on an out-patient basis for the next six months, at which time he found that Cantrell "has no restrictions with the use of his left hand" and "can return to work at a light duty job." Dr. Rhea added that Cantrell continued to experience pain in his hand and that he should avoid "heavy lifting or forceful gripping." At the same time Dr. Rhea referred Cantrell to Dr. Michael F. Jabaley, specialist in reconstructive surgery, in Jackson, Mississippi, for evaluation. Dr. Jabaley recommended that Cantrell return to light duty work only and, if none were available, he should find other employment. All of this was in the Spring of 1986.

Walker Manufacturing offered Cantrell the opportunity to return to work, in a different position but with no change of pay. ¹ On April 29, 1986, Walker renewed this proposal via a letter written by Jimmy D. Taylor, personnel manager, as follows:

I have been advised by your doctor, per the attached letter, that you can return to work. As I have told you before, we have work available for you and need for you to be on the job whenever possible.

I have been unsuccessful in getting you to return my calls or to get in touch with me for several weeks. By copy of this letter, I am advising you that if you do not report for work through this personnel office before 3:30 P.M. Monday, May 5, 2986 (sic), that you will be terminated from our employment.

Cantrell did not reply. True to its word, Walker Manufacturing terminated his employment and ceased paying temporary total benefits.

In time, Cantrell sought the care and treatment of Dr. John G. Gassaway, orthopedic surgeon of West Point, Mississippi, beginning with an initial visit on July 29, 1987. Dr. Gassaway described Cantrell's problem as "a very sensitive scar on the palm and a neuroma embedded in the scar which was causing the pain that radiated up claimant's forearm to the elbow." Active use of the left hand made Cantrell's pain worse. On October 27, 1987, Dr. Gassaway performed a surgical procedure on Cantrell's hand described as a neuroplasty of the digital nerve. Cantrell's hand progressively improved, as noted in Dr. Gassaway's record of follow-up out-patient care. On January 20, 1988, Dr. Gassaway advised that Cantrell had reached maximum medical improvement and stated subsequently that Cantrell had a residual five percent permanent medical impairment to his left hand.

At the time of the hearing below, Cantrell was employed by Greenwood Springs, a garment factory in the Aberdeen area, and was making approximately $135.00 a week. He stated that he was still experiencing difficulty with his left hand.

B.

This matter was heard by an Administrative Judge (sometimes "AJ") who, on January 9, 1989, released his decision finding that Cantrell had reached maximum medical improvement on or about January 20, 1988, and that he was experiencing "a forty percent (40%) industrial loss of use of the left hand." The hand is a scheduled member. Miss.Code Ann. Sec. 71-3-17(c)(3) (1972). The Administrative Judge ordered that Walker Manufacturing pay Cantrell compensation and provide for his reasonable and necessary medical services and supplies.

Walker asked that the order be reviewed by the Commission, which heard the matter on July 20, 1989. On October 10, 1989, the Commission modified the AJ's order, holding that Cantrell's proof failed in important particulars and that he had shown only a five percent permanent partial disability to his hand. En route, the Commission found, first, that Cantrell had provided no medical evidence that his permanent impairment exceeded five percent, and, further, that Cantrell failed to attempt his usual duties following his last surgery and had not returned to work in spite of Walker Manufacturing's offer. Moreover, the Commission found that Cantrell had failed to prove an occupational disability attributable to his hand injury in excess of the five percent medical impairment Dr. Gassaway had found. The Commission explained that Cantrell had not:

... provide[d] any witnesses to corroborate his statements of inability to work or perform the usual duties of his customary employment, nor did he provide any proof that he was refused employment based upon the disability to his hand.

Cantrell appealed to the Circuit Court of Monroe County, which reversed and reinstated the AJ's order. In an unusual opinion, the Circuit Court first articulated, in no uncertain terms, its disagreement with the established rule that the Mississippi Workers' Compensation Commission sits as "the trier of facts and judge of the credibility of witnesses." Purporting to accept the rule, albeit reluctantly, the Court based its reversal and reinstatement order upon its opinion that

... the Administrative Judge is experienced and having seen and heard that which went into the record should be in a position to arrive at the degree of occupational loss with reasonable certainty.

This burst of candor aside, the Circuit Court recited an obligatory:

... [T]he decision of the Commission is clearly erroneous, adverse to the overwhelming weight of the evidence, is contrary to the beneficent intent and purpose of the act and is reversed.

III.

As a matter of custom and practice, the Administrative Judge is generally, within the Mississippi Workers' Compensation Commission, the individual who conducts the hearing and hears the live testimony, such as it is. We had thought it established beyond peradventure, however, that the Commission itself is, in law, the finder of the facts and that on judicial review, its findings and decisions are subject to the normal deferential standards, notwithstanding the AJ's actions. See, e.g., Piggly Wiggly v. Houston, 464 So.2d 510, 511-12 (Miss.1985); Johnson v. Pearl River Sand & Gravel Co., 242 Miss. 349, 351-52, 134 So.2d 434, 435 (1961); cf. Morris v. Lansdell's Frame Co., 547 So.2d 782, 784-85 (Miss.1989); Fought v. Stuart C. Irby Co., 523 So.2d 314, 317 (Miss.1988); Day-Brite Lighting Div. v. Cummings, 419 So.2d 211, 213 (Miss.1982); Malley v. Over The Top, Inc., 229 Miss. 347, 354-55, 90 So.2d 678, 680-81 (1956); Railway Express Agency v. Hollingsworth, 221 Miss. 688, 695, 74 So.2d 754, 756 (1954). On this premise Walker Manufacturing appeals to this Court and asks that we reinstate the Commission's order. The appeal and, particularly, the Circuit Court's action require that we briefly reinvent the wheel.

The Mississippi Workers' Compensation Act became law in 1948 and provided, inter alia, an administrative process whereby claims of work-connected injuries might be expeditiously made, processed and decided. The Legislature vested full responsibility for the handling of these matters in the Commission. Miss.Code Ann. Secs. 71-3-1, et seq. (1972). The Act committed to the Commission the duty of prescribing "the details of practice and procedure in the settlement and adjudication of claims." Miss.Code Ann. Sec. 71-3-47 (1972); see also, Miss.Code Ann. Sec. 71-3-85(5) (1972). Pursuant to this authority, the Commission has developed and evolved a procedure whereby hearing officers go out into the field and receive testimony and other evidence and make initial awards, subject always to review and modification by the Commission itself. See MWCC Procedural Rules 7-10. What must be kept always in mind is that each AJ is a member of the...