Court Opinion

ID: 9934361
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-02-09 18:53:52.723427+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:23:17.995118
License: Public Domain

I conclude that the worker did not file his workers' compensation claim within the period allowed by the statute of limitations. In his complaint, the worker alleges that he developed an occupational disease, byssinosis, in the line and scope of his employment. It is undisputed that byssinosis is caused by the inhalation of cotton dust and fibers. The worker testified that he was repeatedly exposed to cotton dust and fibers while working at the company's plant in Clanton. He worked at that plant until 1977. In 1977, he began working at a plant in Wetumpka that did not process cotton, and he worked at that plant until 1993. The worker testified that the Wetumpka plant did process some cotton on one occasion, and that on that occasion he was exposed to cotton dust and fibers. The worker did not testify when that one exposure at the Wetumpka plant occurred.
A worker alleging an injury from an occupational disease must file a claim within two years of "the date of the last exposure to the hazards of the disease." Ala. Code 1975, §25-5-117(b). The worker has the burden of proving all the elements of a workers' compensation claim. Big B Discount Drugs, Inc. v.Parker, 401 So.2d 115 (Ala.Civ.App. 1981). The worker did not prove that he had been exposed to cotton dust and fibers (the cause of byssinosis) within two years of filing his complaint. As stated above, the evidence indicates that the worker was exposed to cotton dust and fibers at the Clanton plant, but that he left the Clanton plant in 1977 and that after that he was not exposed to cotton dust and fibers, except for one time. The worker did not give the date of that one exposure; therefore, I conclude that the worker did not satisfy his burden of proving that he filed his claim within the two years allowed by the statute of limitations.
Thompson, J., concurs.