 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Employee Leasing Services in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Alexander v. Forklifts Unlimited6/20/2005
Opinion
Heard May 11, 2005
REVERSED
Forklifts Unlimited and Zurich American Insurance Company ("Appellants") appeal a circuit court order awarding benefits under the South Carolina Workers' Compensation Act. We reverse.
FACTS / PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
Luther Alexander was a forklift mechanic for Forklifts Unlimited. On March 8, 2002, he visited a client's plant to repair a large forklift. The repair required installing a forklift starter, which weighed approximately fifty pounds. This task required him to lift the heavy item in an awkward position.
While lifting the starter, Alexander felt a crack in his neck and heard a sound "like a rubber band snap[ping]." After finishing the job, he drove home, but began experiencing a headache. When Alexander awoke the next morning, he was suffering from a terrible headache and severe dizziness. He also noticed that one side of his face was numb and drooping. Alexander promptly phoned his father, who drove him to a nearby hospital.
The hospital staff referred Alexander to neurologist Dr. Allen Ryder-Cook, who determined that Alexander suffered a stroke inducing dissection of his right vertebral artery. Dr. Ryder-Cook also concluded that the arterial dissection was caused by the physical exertion of installing the forklift starter. Appellants sent Alexander to Dr. James L. Bumgarter for an independent medical examination. Dr. Bumgarter agreed that Alexander suffered a stroke caused by an arterial tear. He concluded that it was quite plausible the tear was caused by Alexander's work activity on March 8.
Alexander filed a workers' compensation claim with the South Carolina Workers' Compensation Commission. The matter was first heard by the single commissioner, who found the arterial tear and resulting stroke were compensable under Shealy v. Aiken County, 341 S.C. 448, 535 S.E.2d 438 (2000), and South Carolina Code section 42-1-160 (1976). The ruling was then appealed to the Full Workers' Compensation Commission. The Full Commission found that Alexander's arterial dissection was, in fact, "an injury by accident arising out of and in the course and scope of the claimant's employment" and therefore compensable, but reversed the single commissioner on one important point. The Full Commission concluded that Alexander's stroke, although a direct result of the arterial tear, "was not caused by unusual or extraordinary conditions of employment or sudden and unexpected exertion or strain." This conclusion was supported, in the commission's view, by evidence that Alexander was familiar with the process of changing a forklift starter, knew that this forklift model had a particularly heavy starter, and commonly lifted items weighing between fifty and eighty pounds in the course of his employment. The Full Commission determined, therefore, that the stroke, viewed as a separate injury from the arterial tear, was not a compensable injury.
Both Alexander and his employer appealed the Full Commission's decision to the circuit court. The circuit court determined there was substantial evidence to support the commission's finding that Alexander's stroke was not the result of unexpected strain or overexertion in the performance of his duties or unusual and extraordinary conditions of employment. The court concluded, however, that because the stroke, according to the findings of the commission and the undisputed medical evidence in the record, was the direct result of an "accident" as contemplated by the Workers' Compensation Act, it was a compensable injury. This appeal followed.
STANDARD OF REVIEW
The Administrative Procedures Act establishes
Page 1 2 3 4 South Carolina Employee Leasing Services
Employee Leasing Services
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Employee Leasing Services in your area.
|
|