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Stallings v. Taco Bell Corporation8/30/2005
Mrs. Paula Stallings was forty-seven years old at the time of trial. She is a high school graduate and has taken some business correspondence classes. She began working in her parents' truck stop when she was sixteen. She has worked in a sewing factory, on an assembly line, in a deli and a convenience store. She has also been a carhop and a housekeeper in a veteran's home.
In July 2001, Mrs. Stallings began working for Taco Bell Corporation, where she was training to be an assistant manager. On October 2, 2001, she was walking behind the Taco Bell counter to check the ice bin when slipped and fell on the wet floor. She fell on her right elbow and right hand. Her right arm started hurting and soon turned black. An ambulance took her to the emergency room. The doctor prescribed medication and advised her to stay off work for two weeks.
Mrs. Stallings stated she could not afford to miss work and returned to work with her arm wrapped and in a sling. She asked her employer for additional treatment but did not get a response. She then sought treatment for pain from her family physician.
She continued to work for Taco Bell for about another month. Taco Bell terminated her employment in November, 2001, for failing to appear at work. Mrs. Stallings stated that she was scheduled to be off that day and had never missed a day of work while at Taco Bell.
Two to three days later she began working for Estes grocery in the bakery department. She had problems with her right hand and arm that got worse over time. Every job duty in the bakery department caused problems when using her right hand and arm. She had to quit in May 2002 when her hand "just locked up on me ...[a ]nd I couldn't get it to move." She has been unable to work since leaving the bakery.
On May 2, 2002, seven months after the accident, Taco Bell sent Mrs. Stallings to see Dr. Claiborne Christian. He diagnosed chronic tendinitis in her right elbow, administered a cortisone injection, and ordered two weeks of physical therapy. On her second appointment, she reported no improvement in her pain. He ordered an MRI, and the results were normal. Dr. Christian did not remember if she complained of hand and wrist pain and pointed out that there was no mention of this in his records. Dr. Christian stated he could offer nothing on a surgical basis for treatment and released her. He found she had reached MMI on June 3, 2002.
On November 6, 2002, Mrs. Stallings saw Dr. Joseph C. Boals for an evaluation. He diagnosed carpal tunnel syndrome, chronic tendinitis, and an RSD-like syndrome (reflex sympathetic dystrophy) of the right upper extremity. According to Dr. Boals,
The exam showed findings in the right upper extremity consistent with an RSD type syndrome. There was blotchy, red, bluish discoloration of the right hand. There was a shiny appearance to the skin, as well as swelling. There was pain to touch and increased perspiration . . . a positive Phalen's test on the right.
He described this condition as "an inappropriate, overwhelming pain response to a sometimes minimal injury . . .[which] can sometimes cause the body to psychologically and physically react to a point where the arm will almost wither away over a period of time, perhaps a year or two if they get the syndrome." In diagnosing this syndrome, Dr. Boals pointed out that it was very important to touch the arm to note perspiration and the skin surface and to compare one side with the other.
Dr. Boals found her injuries to be permanent and caused by the fall at Taco Bell. He assigned her a 10% anatomical impairment to the body as a whole based on causalgia/RSD Class II according to the
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