Roy Franklin v Mitchell Mill Systems
Release Date: May 27, 2021
Venue: Southern District
Plot Summary: Court affirms a permanent and total award against employer for last accident alone based on "post laminectomy" syndrome. (SD 36898)
Cast
Rahmeyer, Hon.
Koprivica
Eldred
Skahan
Comments: Claimant pursued a claim of injury by occupational disease and underwent back surgery and was unable to return to work as a welder but was able to return to work after his 6 "major" prior surgeries. The commission had noted Dr. Koprivica's alternative explanations during cross exam were not inconsistent or rendered his opinions to lack credibility.
"We do not consider Dr. Koprivica’s additional alternative analyses inconsistent, but rather merely his effort to respond to [E]mployee’s attorney’s diligent questioning designed to anticipate and address every possible liability scenario under § 287.220.3 RSMo. We further rely on the opinion of vocational expert Phillip Eldred that medical restrictions resultant from [E]mployee’s primary injury rendered him unable to compete for work in the open labor market. We conclude [E]mployee’s fifty-eight hour a week job as a welder for [E]mployer from 2006 to 2014, frequently lifting fifty or more pounds, carrying, squatting and kneeling was the sole cause of his permanent and total disability.'
The ALJ made a specific credibility finding that claimant was honest, reliable, genuine and trustworthy.
Some of claimant's prior conditions were found to impact his employability, but the postural restrictions flowing from post-laminectomy syndrome alone rendered him unemployable according to the opinions.
