Court Opinion

ID: 9626375
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 08:09:53.808835+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:06:26.397293
License: Public Domain

GREENE, Judge,
dissenting.
I disagree with the majority that our case law requires a plaintiff who is attempting to prove an aggravation of his disease due to his employment to show he was also at a greater risk of contracting the disease than the general population, I therefore dissent in part I of the majority opinion.
For diseases not specifically listed in N.C. Gen. Stat. § 97-53, such as carpal tunnel syndrome, the claimant must show that his disease is considered occupational under section 97-53(13). N.C.G.S. § 97-53(13) (2001). The burden rests on the claimant to show that: (1) “ ‘a causal connection between the disease and the [claimant’s] employment’ ” exists and (2) “the employment exposed the worker to a greater risk of contracting the disease than the public generally.” Rutledge v. Tultex Corp., 308 N.C. 85, 93-94, 301 S.E.2d 359, 365 (1983) (citations omitted). Although the second prong of the test outlined in Rutledge uses the words “contracting the disease,” this language evolved in the context of workers’ compensation claims based on diseases that were brought about by the plaintiffs’ employment conditions. See, e.g., id. at 90, 301 S.E.2d at 363; Booker v. Med. Ctr., 297 N.C. 458, 472-74, 256 S.E.2d 189, 198-200 (1979). The analysis, however, must necessarily change when the focus shifts from causation as it relates to the initial development of a disease to the aggravation of an existing condition, because a plaintiff whose disease was aggravated by his employment does not claim to have contracted the disease at work.
While the majority cites Norris v. Drexel Heritage Furnishings, Inc. to support its proposition that this Court has previously held an increased risk of contracting the disease must be shown even in an aggravation case, Norris did not specifically deal with aggravation. See Norris v. Drexel Heritage Furnishings, Inc., 139 N.C. App. 620, 622, 534 S.E.2d 259, 261 (2000), cert. denied, 353 N.C. 378, 547 S.E.2d 15 (2001). Instead, the Commission in Norris simply found the plaintiff’s fibromyalgia to have been “caused or aggravated” by her employment. Id. Furthermore, the plaintiff in Norris argued she had *463presented sufficient evidence that her employment as a splicing machine operator placed her at a greater risk of contracting fibromyalgia than the general public, thereby limiting the court’s scope of review to this issue. Id. In this case, however, plaintiffs appeal to this Court rests in part on the proposition that the “Rutledge standard is not a perfect fit” in respect to plaintiffs claim.
As this Court has not yet considered the proper formulation of the “increased risk” factor in an aggravation case, I would hold that, in the context of an aggravation case, the analysis must rest on whether the plaintiffs job exposed him to a greater risk of having his carpal tunnel syndrome aggravated than the general population suffering from the disease. See Goodman v. Cone Mills Corp., 75 N.C. App. 493, 497, 331 S.E.2d 261, 264 (1985) (a disease is compensable when it “is aggravated or accelerated by causes and conditions characteristic of and peculiar to [the] claimant’s employment”) (citing Walston v. Burlington Indus., 304 N.C. 670, 679-80, 285 S.E.2d 822, 828 (1982)). To read Rutledge as the majority does would generally preclude recovery for every workers’ compensation claim asserting an occupational disease based on aggravation. This would be inconsistent with N.C. Gen. Stat. § 97-53(13), which defines an occupational disease as one “due to causes and conditions which are characteristic of and peculiar to a particular trade, occupation or employment, but excluding all ordinary diseases of life to which the general public is equally exposed outside of the employment.” N.C.G.S. § 97-53(13). Accordingly, I would hold the Commission’s finding in this case that plaintiff’s employment did not place him at an increased risk of developing carpal tunnel syndrome as compared to the general public did not support a conclusion to deny plaintiff disability compensation based on aggravation.
Furthermore, as the majority concedes, plaintiff’s evidence with respect to the employment-related aggravation of his carpal tunnel syndrome is undisputed. As such, the Commission erred in failing to find plaintiff’s carpal tunnel syndrome was aggravated by his employment. See Goodman, 75 N.C. App. at 497, 331 S.E.2d at 264. I would therefore remand this case to the Commission for entry of a finding that plaintiff’s carpal tunnel syndrome was aggravated by his employment and for consideration of whether plaintiff’s job exposed him to a greater risk of having his carpal tunnel syndrome aggravated than the general population suffering from the disease.