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Khamsomphou v. Petit Jean Poultry3/1/2000
NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION
REVERSED AND REMANDED
Imelda Khamsomphou again asks this Court to hold that she is entitled to benefits for a compensable injury to her left shoulder that she received while working for Petit Jean Poultry, Inc., the appellee. On December 13, 1996, an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) found that Khamsomphou sustained a compensable rapid repetitive motion injury to her shoulder. The ALJ's opinion consisted of quotations of testimony and case law, but failed to translate the evidence into findings of fact. The Workers' Compensation Commission filed its decision affirming and adopting the ALJ's opinion on August 13, 1997, and Petit Jean Poultry appealed to this Court. However, because the ALJ's opinion and the Commission's decision contained no findings of fact, we could not ascertain whether the Commission found her shoulder injury was the major cause of the appellant's need for treatment. Therefore, we reversed and remanded, instructing the Commission to set out its findings of facts.
The Commission subsequently remanded appellant's claim to the ALJ to make specific findings of fact. On August 26, 1998, the ALJ found that appellant's shoulder injury was the major cause of her need for medical treatment. Petit Jean Poultry appealed this decision to the Commission, which reversed the ALJ's findings. Based on the deposition testimony of a doctor who treated the appellant and found that she was double-jointed, the Commission found that appellant had a pre-existing genetic condition that caused her pain and that the rapid repetitive motion required by her job was not the major cause of her need for medical treatment. Appellant now argues on appeal that the Commission's decision denying her benefits is not supported by substantial evidence. We agree and reverse the decision of the Commission.
Appellant began working for Petit Jean Poultry's production line in 1991. Her initial job involved deboning chicken, a task requiring repetitive wrist motion. She was subsequently assigned to a position as an "opener." That job involved making cuts in the chicken so another worker could debone the chicken.
Approximately six months after beginning her employment with Petit Jean, appellant first complained of problems with her left shoulder. She reported to the company nurse with pain in the back of her shoulder ten times between September 5, 1991 and May 11, 1994. On May 12, 1994, she reported to the company nurse with her left shoulder popped out of joint. In total, she registered approximately fourteen reports of pain in the back of her left shoulder with the plant nurse between the time she began her employment until June 23, 1994. On these occasions, the company nurse applied Menthol Ice, provided heat and massage treatments to the back of her left shoulder, and temporarily switched her to light duty, but did not refer the appellant to a doctor.
On November 4, 1994, appellant transferred to a sawing position in order to receive a pay increase. The appellant's duties on the saw involved making three cuts on each chicken wing and then turning and throwing the chicken parts in buckets located behind her to the left and to her right. Appellant testified that she would perform this same motion repetitively and would cut twenty-eight to thirty-two chicken wings per minute. Four months after she transferred to this position, she again reported to the nurse with pain in her left shoulder. However, she stated that the pain she experienced after she was moved to the sawing position was in the outside of her arm, where her arm and shoulder intersect, rather than at the back of her shoulder, where she had experienced pain before. She state
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