Court Opinion

ID: 9730933
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 15:28:41.417227+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:11.327780
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE GREEN, dissenting: I would reverse the judgment of the circuit court and affirm the decision of the Civil Service Commission. I agree that Coe was estopped before the Civil Service Commission to deny that he was 20% permanently disabled. I disagree with the majority’s conclusion that his 20% permanent disability is necessarily equated to an inability on his part to perform the work required in his job. Had he been permanently unable to perform any job, he would have been 100% permanently disabled. Under the evidence presented, the question of whether Coe could do the work was one of fact for the Civil Service Commission to decide. Coe’s testimony before the Civil Service Commission that he thought he could perform the work did not imply that he had no disability. Although self-serving and subject to impeachment, the testimony was entitled to some weight. The only other evidence concerning Coe’s ability in regard to the rigors of the job was the evidence deposition of Dr. Cacdac, Coe’s treating physician and surgeon. The weight to be given to Dr. Cacdac’s testimony was likewise greatly diminished because of a report which was submitted to the Industrial Commission in which he had recently given a prognosis that Coe would not be able to do the work. Nevertheless, Dr. Cacdac did testify in his evidence deposition that Coe would then be able to do the work. That testimony was also entitled to some weight. Dr. Cacdac was not asked if the latest opinion was based on an assumption that Coe was not 20% permanently disabled, nor was he asked if a person with a 20% permanent disability could perform the work. Other witnesses testified as to the nature of Coe’s job, but none testified as to his present ability to perform the work. As there was no evidence to refute the positive statements of Coe and Dr. Cacdac, the finding of the Civil Service Commission, that Coe could perform the work, was not contrary to the manifest weight of the evidence. That decision should be upheld.