Defendant filed a notice of appeal with the North Carolina Court of Appeals. In an opinion filed 3 December 1993, this Court reversed the full Commission and remanded the case for proper consideration of the deputy commissioner's findings on credibility. Plaintiff then petitioned the Court of Appeals for rehearing and petitioned the Supreme Court for discretionary review. Both petitions were denied. The full Commission then re-reviewed the record without a hearing and in an opinion and award renewed its reversal of the deputy commissioner and awarded plaintiff workers' compensation benefits.
Defendant now appeals.
N. Douglas Beach, Jr., for plaintiff-appellee. Defendant argues that the full Commission did not acknowledge the general rule that deputy commissioners are in a better position to judge credibility as mandated by Sanders v. Broyhill . Defendant further argues that plaintiff's ignorance of workers' compensation law is not a valid justification for finding plaintiff credible. 124 N.C. App. In Sanders we held that prior to reversing the deputy commissioner's credibility findings on review of a cold record, the full Commission must, as it did in Pollard, demonstrate in its opinion that it considered the applicability of the general rule which encourages deference to the hearing officer who is the best judge of credibility. . . .