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Spears v. Pathway Bellows3/28/2000
AFFIRMED.
This workers' compensation appeal has been referred to the Special Workers' Compensation Appeals Panel of the Supreme Court in accordance with Tenn. Code Ann. ยง 50-6-225(e)(3) for hearing and reporting to the Supreme Court of findings of fact and conclusions of law.
The defendant, Pathway Bellows, Inc., appeals the trial court's award of twenty percent (20%) permanent partial disability to the left upper extremity. We agree with the trial court and affirm.
The plaintiff, James Spears, was 56 years old in February, 1999. He dropped out of school in the 10th grade and joined the U. S. Army. While in the Army he worked in communications and received his general equivalency diploma.
After being honorably discharged from the Army, he went to work as an assembler and later as a welder. While working for a small machine shop he learned to weld very thin exotic material. This type of welding requires a very steady hand and a tremendous amount of concentration. In 1969, the plaintiff went to work for the defendant. From 1969 to 1997 the plaintiff traveled all over the world welding exotic material for the defendant.
On August 4, 1997, he was cutting parts that weighed around 200 pounds. He would push, catch and stand them on the ground. Later in the day his left shoulder began to bother him. He told his supervisor who sent him to Ambulatory Care where he saw Dr. Hilton.
Subsequently, Dr. Hilton referred the plaintiff to Dr. Sidney Wallace, an orthopedic specialist, who first saw the plaintiff on September 17, 1997. Dr. Wallace diagnosed the plaintiff's injury as a rotator cuff syndrome on the left side. Dr. Wallace treated the plaintiff from September 17 through November 11, 1997, when Dr. Wallace released the plaintiff to return to his normal work duties. At this time Dr. Wallace felt the plaintiff should have another physician examine him because he had seen a video, showing the plaintiff doing things, which he thought impaired the doctor-patient relationship.
The video as interpreted by Dr. Wallace indicated the plaintiff was climbing in and out of a bobcat and showed him raising the hood of a truck using his left arm. Dr. Wallace thought these efforts of the plaintiff were inconsistent with his instructions to not use his left hand. Dr. Wallace opined that the plaintiff had sustained no permanent impairment.
The plaintiff was terminated by the defendant in November, 1997. The cause of the termination is currently involved in other litigation.
The plaintiff saw Dr. Paul Naylor, an orthopedic surgeon, for evaluation on March 30, 1998. Dr. Naylor diagnosed the plaintiff's problem as an impingement syndrome, which is an irritation of the rotator cuff due to an overlying acromial bone that was exacerbated by his lifting at work on August 4, 1997. He felt the plaintiff had sustained a 5% permanent impairment to his upper extremity and that he should avoid repetitive or significant overhead lifting.
The plaintiff indicated he could return to the work he was doing when he was terminated, which was inside and did not require lifting above shoulder level. However he would have difficulty doing work requiring raising his arm above shoulder level, which could be required in other welding work such as outside work.
Dr. Craig Colvin, a vocational rehabilitation counselor, believed the plaintiff was 25% to 30% vocationally impaired with accommodations, but if there were no work restrictions, there would be no impairment. Jane Colvin Robinson, a vocational rehabilitation counselor, indicated that there would be no vocational impairment based on Dr. Wallace's no restr
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