Zippo Manufacturing Co. v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board2/12/2002
Submitted: December 28, 2001
JUDGE FRIEDMAN
Zippo Manufacturing Company (Employer) petitions for review of the August 23, 2001 order of the Workers' Compensation Appeal Board (WCAB), which affirmed the decision of a workers' compensation judge (WCJ) to grant, in part, a petition to review compensation benefits (Review Petition) filed by Sherry Louser (Claimant). We reverse and remand.
On March 29, 1994, Employer issued a Notice of Compensation Payable (NCP) indicating that, on February 24, 1994, Claimant sustained a work- related injury to her right pinky finger and left ring finger while working as a hand buffer. The NCP described the injury as "trigger finger right pinky finger and cyst left ring finger." Claimant continued to work as a hand buffer, except for time off to have two surgeries on her right pinky finger. When Claimant's problems at work persisted after the surgeries, Employer moved Claimant to a job filling gift tins. (WCJ's Findings of Fact, Nos. 2, 11(a), 11(b).)
On March 13, 1995, Claimant had right carpal tunnel surgery. Upon her return to work after this surgery, Employer gave Claimant a job in its fabrication department. When the fabrication job caused problems for Claimant, Employer assigned Claimant to a job in battery pack assembly. (WCJ's Findings of Fact, Nos. 3, 11(b).)
On September 5, 1996, Claimant went on maternity leave. Upon her return to work, on February 24, 1997, Employer gave her a light duty job in the advertising department, placing stickers on Zippo catalogs. On June 9, 1997, Claimant underwent left carpal tunnel and wrist fusion surgery, and she has not worked since that date. On June 9, 1998, Employer terminated Claimant's employment because she had been off work for more than a year. (WCJ's Findings of Fact, No. 11(b).)
On September 29, 1998, Claimant filed her Review Petition, alleging that the description of her work injury in the NCP was incorrect because it did not include bilateral carpal tunnel and injuries to her wrists, hands and arms. Employer denied the allegation and asserted that the claim of new injuries was time barred. (WCJ's Findings of Fact, No. 1.)
At hearings before a WCJ, Claimant testified on her own behalf and presented the deposition testimony of John D. Lubahn, M.D. Dr. Lubahn opined that Claimant's work as a hand buffer caused her to suffer from flexor tendonitis/ trigger finger, bilateral carpal tunnel, scapholunate ligament tear/instability, and posterior interosseous nerve syndrome accompanied by lateral epicondylitis of the right elbow. However, Dr. Lubahn did not begin treating Claimant until April 11, 1997, and the doctor was not aware of Claimant's specific job duties as a hand buffer or her job duties in her other work positions. (WCJ's Findings of Fact, Nos. 3, 4, 11(c).)
Employer presented the deposition testimony of Trenton Gause, M.D., who stated that there was nothing wrong with Claimant and that she was over- dramatizing or magnifying her symptoms. (WCJ's Findings of Fact, Nos. 5, 11(e).) Employer also presented the deposition testimony of Russell Weintraub, M.D., who was the company doctor at the time Claimant sustained her February 24, 1994 work injury. Dr. Weintraub opined that Claimant's work injury was limited to her right hand and wrist and involved right carpal tunnel syndrome, trigger finger of the right pinky and tendonitis of the thenar eminence of the right thumb. (WCJ's Findings of Fact, Nos. 6, 11(d).)
After considering the evidence, the WCJ accepted the expert medical testimony of Dr. Weintraub, rejecting that of Drs. LuBahn and Gause. As a result, the WCJ modified the NCP's description of Claimant's
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