Court Opinion

ID: 9578628
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:46:55.076076+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:29:04.713389
License: Public Domain

TIMMONS-GOODSON, J.,
concurring in part, dissenting in part.
I agree with the majority that the Commission was correct in finding that the nature of plaintiffs work did not augment her occupational disease and that defendant failed to rebut the Form 21 presumption. I disagree, however, with that portion of the opinion remanding the present case to the Commission for a finding as to whether plaintiff reached her “maximum medical improvement.” Contrary to the majority’s holding, I believe that the Commission’s conclusion that plaintiff was entitled to temporary total disability is supported by the evidence. Therefore, I respectfully dissent.
*672Plaintiff is only entitled to temporary disability if she has not reached “maximum medical improvement,” meaning that she has completely recovered or her injuries have stabilized. See Crawley v. Southern Devices, Inc., 31 N.C. App. 284, 288-89, 229 S.E.2d 325, 328-29 (1976). I believe there was competent evidence in the record indicating that plaintiffs condition had not stabilized. In April 1996, Dr. Saltzman determined that plaintiff reached her “maximum medical improvement.” Nonetheless, her disability rating increased between the date of Dr. Saltzman’s opinion and the time of the Commission’s hearing. Furthermore, Dr. Poehling never opined that plaintiff had recovered or that her condition had stabilized. To the contrary, his records demonstrated that in July 1997, plaintiff could benefit from and needed further treatment. In fact, Dr. Poehling would later indicate, as late as March 1998, that any improvements in plaintiffs condition “will be gradual over a period of time.” As the aforementioned evidence demonstrates the instability of plaintiffs condition, the Commission did not err in failing to find that she had not reached her “maximum medical improvement.”
For the forgoing reasons, I would affirm the Commission’s order and award in its entirety.