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Farmer-Cummings v. Future Foam2/13/2001
Appeal From: Labor and Industrial Relations
Opinion Vote: AFFIRMED IN PART AND REVERSED IN PART.
Breckenridge, P.J., and Howard, J., concur.
Opinion:
Tracey Farmer-Cummings appeals from the judgment of the Labor and Industrial Relations Commission (Commission) awarding her permanent partial disability of 80 percent of the body as a whole and future medical benefits in accordance with Missouri's Workers' Compensation statute. The Commission awarded Ms. Cummings 320 weeks of permanent partial disability at $113.33/week ($36,265.60) and undetermined future medical benefits. The Commission further found that Ms. Cummings failed to prove her employer's, Personnel Pool of Platte County's, liability for either past or future temporary total disability benefits or her past medical aid. Ms. Cummings contends that the Commission erred in (1) finding that she was permanently partially disabled rather than permanently totally disabled; (2) finding that she failed to meet her burden of proof regarding Personnel Pool's liability for past medical benefits; and (3) ruling that Personnel Pool was entitled to a subrogation interest in Ms. Cummings' recovery from a third party on her medical malpractice claim. The Commission's award is affirmed in part and reversed in part.
I. Facts
Ms. Cummings is a twenty-eight-year-old woman who has been employed in various jobs since the age of fifteen. Her longest employment tenure at any one company was about a year. Prior to October 1991, Ms. Cummings worked for various restaurants and temporary agencies. In October 1991, Ms. Cummings became a temporary employee of Personnel Pool of Platte County. As a temporary employee she was assigned to work at Future Foam, Inc. At Future Foam, Ms. Cummings cut and glued various foam products to form cushions for boat seats.
Not long after her employment with Future Foam commenced, Ms. Cummings began experiencing symptoms similar to those of a chest cold. The symptoms rapidly progressed until Ms. Cummings began experiencing difficulty breathing and was admitted to a hospital on November 6, 1991. The doctors attributed Ms. Cummings' breathing problems to her previous diagnosis of reactive airway disease. Upon release from the hospital, Ms. Cummings returned to work at Future Foam. After returning to her work environment, Ms. Cummings' symptoms worsened in a matter of hours. She was physically unable to tolerate staying in the Future Foam environment and eventually had to leave work. After this incident, Ms. Cummings never returned to work at Future Foam but continued to work at various jobs until January 1998.
After leaving Future Foam, Ms. Cummings continued to experience respiratory problems. She sought medical treatment and was hospitalized for her respiratory problems on a number of occasions. In May 1992, after again being admitted to a hospital, Ms. Cummings condition was diagnosed as asthmatic. Ms. Cummings' respiratory problems continued.
In January 1993, Ms. Cummings filed a claim, based on her respiratory problems, with the Division of Workers' Compensation against Future Foam and later amended that claim to include Personnel Pool. A hearing on the matter was held before an administrative law judge in February 1999. Both Future Foam and Ms. Cummings sought review of the administrative law judge's decision by the full Commission. The Commission reviewed the matter and entered its final award on February 22, 2000, which affirmed the administrative law judge's decision that Personnel Pool, as Ms. Cummings' employer, is liable for Ms. Cummings occupational disease and ordered it to pay $36,265.60 in permanent partial disability be
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