Case Name: CIVES STEEL COMPANY PORT OF ROSEDALE and Employers Insurance of Wausau, a Mutual Company, Appellants v. Walter WILLIAMS, Jr., Appellee
Court: Mississippi Court of Appeals
Jurisdiction: Mississippi
Decision Date: 2004-06-01
Citations: 905 So. 2d 661
Docket Number: No. 2003-WC-00860-COA
Parties: CIVES STEEL COMPANY PORT OF ROSEDALE and Employers Insurance of Wausau, a Mutual Company, Appellants v. Walter WILLIAMS, Jr., Appellee.
Judges: Before KING, C.J., BRIDGES, P.J., and CHANDLER, J.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 905
Pages: 661–672

Head Matter:
CIVES STEEL COMPANY PORT OF ROSEDALE and Employers Insurance of Wausau, a Mutual Company, Appellants v. Walter WILLIAMS, Jr., Appellee.
No. 2003-WC-00860-COA.
Court of Appeals of Mississippi.
June 1, 2004.
Rehearing Denied Aug. 10, 2004.
Robert F. Stacy, Christine B. Tatum, Oxford, attorneys for appellants.
William R. Striebeck, Greenville, attorney for appellee.
Before KING, C.J., BRIDGES, P.J., and CHANDLER, J.

Opinion:
BRIDGES, P.J.,
for the Court.
¶ 1. Walter Williams, Jr. began a worker's compensation claim against his former employer Cives Steel Company after an injury to his left foot. An administrative hearing was held on this matter in October of 2000 in Bolivar County. The record was held open and another hearing was held in August of 2001. The administrative judge issued the following ruling:
A. Williams was entitled to temporary total disability benefits at the rate of $270.67 per week from November 12, 1997 to May 6, 1999, with -proper credit for wages earned by Williams and compensation paid by Cives during this period;
B. Williams was entitled to permanent partial disability benefits at the rate of $100.67 per week for 450 weeks beginning May 6,1999 pursuant to Mississippi Code Annotated section 71-3-17(c)(25)(rev.2000), with proper credit for compensation paid by Cives during this period;
C. Williams was entitled to all medical services and supplies required by the nature of his injury and in the process of his recovery as provided in Mississippi Code Annotated section 71-3-15 (rev. 2000) and the Medical Fee Schedule;
D. A ten percent penalty on all untimely paid installments of compensation pursuant to Mississippi Code Annotated section 71-3-37(5)(rev.2000) and interest at the legal rate.
¶ 2. Cives filed a petition for review and the ruling of the administrative judge was reviewed by the Full Commission. In July of 2002 the Commission entered an order affirming the decision of the administrative judge. From this ruling Cives appealed to the Circuit Court of Bolivar County. Oral arguments were held in March of 2003 and the court affirmed the Commission's decision as to all but one issue. Cives now appeals to this Court on the following issues:
STATEMENT OF THE ISSUES
I. WHETHER THE CIRCUIT COURT OF BOLIVAR COUNTY ERRED IN AFFIRMING THE COMMISSIONS DETERMINATION THAT WILLIAMS SUSTAINED A PERMANENT PARTIAL DISABILITY TO THE BODY AS A WHOLE INSTEAD OF PERMANENT PARTIAL DISABILITY TO A SCHEDULED MEMBER.
II. WHETHER THE CIRCUIT COURT ERRED IN AFFIRMING THE COM-' MISSION'S DETERMINATION THAT WILLIAMS WAS ENTITLED TO PERMANENT DISABILITY BENEFITS EXCEEDING THE 10% MEDICAL DISABILITY RATING.
III. WHETHER THE CIRCUIT COURT ERRED IN AFFIRMING THE DECISION OF THE COMMISSION SINCE INCORRECT LEGAL STANDARDS WERE APPLIED TO THE EVIDENCE PRESENTED AND THE FACTUAL FINDINGS WERE NOT SUPPORTED BY SUBSTANTIAL EVIDENCE.
FACTS
¶ 3. Williams began working for Cives in 1992 as an industrial painter. This job required Williams to paint steel beams using an air sprayer and to carry two five gallon buckets of paint to the sprayers, while stepping over skids and moving beams several times during the process. William's work area had concrete flooring and his hours were from 3:30 p.m. to 2:00 a.m.
¶ 4. In November of 1997, while painting, a 1,300 pound I-beam fell on Williams' left foot. Williams had two surgeries to treat his injury, one in April of 1998 and the other in December of 1998. Between the surgeries he continued to work "light duty" at Cives and after the second surgery he was demoted from painter to a painter's helper due to his lohg absence. Working as a helper Williams still spent long hours on his left foot and began to experience sharp pain and swelling for about two months until his doctor referred him to a specialist. In September of 1999 the specialist restricted Williams' duties to not allow Williams to stand for more than sixty consecutive minutes. Cives would not allow Williams to return to work under these conditions. Williams is still under the care of a pain management specialist taking several pain medications a day.
¶ 5. In August 2000 Williams began to drive and deliver packages for Federal Express on a part-time basis. For his work with Federal Express Williams had to switch from a manual transmission to an automatic one because he had difficulty using the clutch with his injured foot. At Federal Express, Williams makes $66 each day he works and on average he works about twenty-six days for every forty five days. Williams also works mowing three or four lawns a week during the summer months making approximately $100 a week.
ANALYSIS
¶ 6. The well-settled standard of review for workers' compensation cases is that "[t]he Commission is the ultimate fact finder." Hardin's Bakeries v. Dependent of Harrell, 566 So.2d 1261, 1264 (Miss.1990). "Accordingly, the Commission may accept or reject an administrative judge's findings." Id. In the case sub judice, the Mississippi Workers' Compensation Commission affirmed the order of the administrative law judge after thoroughly studying the record and the applicable law. Our standard of review is set forth in Delta CMI v. Speck:
Under settled precedent, courts may not hear evidence in compensation cases. Rather, their scope of review is limited to a determination of whether or not the decision of the commission is supported by substantial evidence. If so, the decision of the commission should be upheld. The circuit courts act as intermediate courts of appeal. The Supreme Court, as the circuit courts, acts as a court of review and is prohibited from hearing evidence or otherwise evaluating evidence and determining facts. "[W]hile appeals to the Supreme Court are technically from the decision of the Circuit Court, the decision of the commission is that which is actually under review for all practical purposes."
As stated, the substantial evidence rule serves as the basis for appellate review of the commission's order. Indeed, the substantial evidence rule in workers' compensation cases is well established in our law. Substantial evidence, though not easily defined, means something more than a "mere scintilla" of evidence, and that it does not rise to the level of "a preponderance of the evidence." It may be said that it "means such relevant evidence as reasonable minds might accept as adequate to support a conclusion. Substantial evidence means evidence which is substantial, that is, affording a substantial basis of fact from which the fact in issue can be reasonably inferred."
586 So.2d 768, 772-73 (Miss.1991) (citations omitted).
¶ 7. "This Court will reverse an order of the Workers' Compensation Commission only where such order is clearly erroneous and contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence." Mitchell Buick, Pontiac & Equip. Co. v. Cash, 592 So.2d 978, 980 (Miss.1991) (citations omitted). Therefore, we must examine the record and be satisfied that substantial evidence existed upon which the Commission could base its decision.
I. WHETHER THE CIRCUIT COURT OF BOLIVAR COUNTY ERRED IN AFFIRMING THE COMMISSION'S DETERMINATION THAT WILLIAMS SUSTAINED A PERMANENT PARTIAL DISABILITY TO THE BODY AS A WHOLE INSTEAD OF PERMANENT PARTIAL DISABILITY TO A SCHEDULED MEMBER.
II. WHETHER THE CIRCUIT COURT ERRED IN AFFIRMING THE COMMISSION'S DETERMINATION THAT WILLIAMS WAS ENTITLED TO PERMANENT DISABILITY BENEFITS EXCEEDING THE 10% MEDICAL DISABILITY RATING FOR THE SCHEDULED MEMBER.
¶ 8. The first and second issues before the court will be considered together since the second issue is actually a continuation of the first.
¶ 9. The administrative judge based her decision to grant permanent partial disability benefits to the body as a whole on the evidence given by Dr. Mark Wolgin, Williams' primary treating physician. Dr. Wolgin performed both surgeries to fuse Williams' foot and assessed the injury to Williams as 7% permanent impairment to the body. Dr. Wolgin used a "stand alone" rating which could not be subdivided into the leg or foot because it altered his gait and affected the body as a whole. The findings of Dr. Wolgin that the disability affected the body as a whole were supported by seeing Williams limp both during the testimony and on surveillance video-tape. The administrative judge chose not to rely on the evidence given by Dr. Rahul Vohra, who was brought in to do an independent evaluation of Williams and determined he had a 10% disability rating relating solely to the left foot.
¶ 10. The administrative judge cites to Richey v. City of Tupelo, 361 So.2d 995 (Miss.1978). In Richey, the Mississippi Supreme Court relied on an older case of Walters Bros. Builders v. Loomis, 187 So.2d 586 (Miss.1966), where "the point of impact, upon the body, or the location of the traumatic injury" was not the controlling factor. Richey, 361 So.2d at 997. In both Richey and Loomis, the court examined the resulting effect of an injury not just the initial location of the injury. In both cases the court found that no medical explanation given was sufficient to prove the injury affected the body as a whole.
¶ 11. Loomis and Richey continued a line of cases which considered the claimant's medical impairment in conjunction with his occupational disability or industrial impairment. Smith v. Jackson Construction Co., 607 So.2d 1119, 1126 (Miss.1992). In many cases applying these rulings, the occupational disability would exceed the medical impairment. These decisions relied heavily on a prior Mississippi Supreme Court ruling in M.T. Reed Construction Co. v. Martin, 215 Miss. 472, 61 So.2d 300 (Miss.1952), which held that regardless of being permanently and totally occupationally disabled a claimant was limited to compensation for the maximum number of weeks allowed for his injury to the scheduled member. Smith at 1126.Id.
¶ 12. However, M.T. Reed was overruled in 1992 by Smith v. Jackson Construction Co., 607 So.2d 1119, 1126 (Miss.1992), and the holdings in Loomis and Richey are modified to the extent they are considered inconsistent. Smith holds that when a claimant suffers an injury covered under Mississippi Code Section 71-3-17(c) (Rev.2000), a permanent partial disability, but that injury results in a permanent loss of wage earning capacity consistent with Mississippi Code Section 71-3-17(a), permanent total disability, the latter section will apply and the claimant is not limited in the number of weeks and compensation prescribed by the former. Id. at 1128.
¶ 13. The administrative judge in this case, by relying on Richey, found that Williams had suffered both a medical impairment and an occupational disability, but in granting permanent partial disability under Mississippi Code Section 71-3-17(c)(25) (Rev.2000) found that loss of wage earning capacity under these facts was not to such an extent required under Mississippi Code Section 71-3-17(a) (Rev. 2000), a permanent total disability.
¶ 14. The determination of the measure of compensation under Mississippi Code Section 71-3-17(e) is dependant on two factors; (1) "the degree of functional loss of use as demonstrated by the medical evidence, normally expressed as a percentage, and (2) the impact that the loss of function of the particular scheduled member has on the worker's ability to perform the normal and customary duties associated with her usual employment." Robinette v. Henry I. Siegal Co., 801 So.2d 739, 743 (Miss.Ct.App.2000). The Court in Robinette holds that when a claimant has an injury which affects his or her ability to perform their typical employment, and this percentage of disability is greater than the percentage of their actual injury, then the court is permitted to compute compensation based on the higher percentage. Id. The administrative judge in this case applied the 7% whole body percentage rather than the 10% scheduled member percentage which is proper.
¶ 15. Cives in its appeal claims no medical evidence was offered to prove the injury affected Williams' back as required under Richey to get compensation for an injury to the body rather than for just the scheduled member itself. However, this Court believes Cives is reading the Richey case too literally. In Richey, an absence of medical finding of back or neck pain in conjunction with the injury to the claimant's shoulder was conclusive to only allow compensation for injury to the scheduled member. In the case at bar, Williams' injury was not to his shoulder but to his foot. This Court does not believe the requirements of medical findings are the same for injuries to the foot as they are for injuries to the shoulder. .
¶ 16. The spirit of Richey required the claimant to offer medical proof of the injury manifesting its symptoms in an area other than the initial impact. For a shoulder an obvious area of this manifestation would be in the shoulder or neck. Williams did offer medical proof the injury to his foot affected his gait which is sufficient under Richey. Therefore, the decision of the administrative judge was not clearly erroneous and against the weight of the evidence; thus these issues on appeal are without merit.
III. WHETHER THE CIRCUIT COURT ERRED IN AFFIRMING THE DECISION OF THE COMMISSION SINCE INCORRECT LEGAL STANDARDS WERE APPLIED TO THE EVIDENCE PRESENTED AND THE FACTUAL FINDINGS WERE NOT SUPPORTED BY SUBSTANTIAL EVIDENCE.
¶ 17. In its argument on this issue Cives does not state specifically which applications of law were incorrect. Cives merely declares the "Commission's order was clearly based on erroneous application of law." Without an allegation of- specific law that was misapplied, this Court will consider solely the issue of lack of evidential support.
¶ 18. The allegation by Cives that the order of the Commission is not- supported by substantial evidence hinges primarily on its belief the computation of $100.67 in disability benefits is wholly arbitrary and capricious. The formula used for computing disability benefits is listed within the statute itself.
Other cases: In all other cases in this class of disability, the compensation shall be sixty-six and two-thirds percent (66-2/3 %) of the difference between his average weekly wages, subject to the maximum limitations as to weekly benefits as set up in this chapter, and his wage-earning capacity thereafter in the same employment or otherwise, payable during the continuance of such partial disability, but subject to reconsideration of the degree of such impairment by the commission on its own motion or upon application of any party in interest. Such payments shall in no case be made for a longer period than four hundred fifty (450) weeks.
Miss.Code Ann. § 71-3-17(25)
¶ 19. Workers' compensation benefits are computed based upon weekly wages not hourly. Williams's average weekly wages before the accident were stipulated as $471. The administrative judge decided Williams's average weekly wages after the accident were $320, which was derived from $80 a day four days a week. This amount is greater than $280 a week, Cives refers to which Williams received regardless of how much he works. Therefore, if the administrative judge had used the amount Cives requested Williams would receive more per week in disability.
¶ 20. Applying the formula, $320 is 67.94% of $471 meaning Williams had a 32.06% loss in wage earning capacity. Williams is entitled under the statute to 66.66% of the amount of his loss in earnings multiplied by his pre-injury average weekly earnings:
$471 x 32.06% = $151.0026 x 66.66% = $100,658
This amount is one cent less than the amount awarded by the administrative judge and this Court does not find that a one cent difference due to a rounding error is either arbitrary or capricious. Therefore, the issue brought forth by Cives is without merit.
¶ 21. THE JUDGMENT OF THE CIRCUIT COURT OF BOLIVAR COUNTY IS AFFIRMED. ALL COSTS OF THIS APPEAL ARE ASSESSED TO THE APPELLANT.
KING, C.J., THOMAS, IRVING, MYERS, AND CHANDLER, JJ., CONCUR. SOUTHWICK, P.J., DISSENTS WITH SEPARATE WRITTEN OPINION JOINED BY LEE AND GRIFFIS, JJ.