Court Opinion

ID: 9849765
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 04:45:43.663174+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:20:25.816307
License: Public Domain

Judge Timmons-Goodson
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent from the majority’s holding that the North Carolina Industrial Commission (the Commission) did not err in awarding plaintiff temporary total disability after finding that she had reached maximum medical improvement of her compensable injury and in ordering her to continue cooperating with vocational rehabilitation training.
Plaintiff contends that the Commission’s conclusion that she is “entitled to continuing temporary total disability compensation” is *235not supported by its finding that she “reached maximum medical improvement of her back on September 13, 1993.” I agree with plaintiffs contention and, therefore, dissent from the majority’s holding to the contrary.
As the basis for its holding, the majority states,
Here, even though the Commission determined that “plaintiff reached maximum medical improvement of her back on September 13, 1993,” there is no finding by the Commission that plaintiffs healing period had ended for her back and for the aggravation of her pre-existing left leg venous stasis ulcer.
Under the majority’s analysis, it would appear that to award permanent disability, the Commission must find, in addition to finding maximum medical improvement, that the employee’s healing period has ended. This reasoning does not square with this Court’s holding in Franklin v. Broyhill Furniture Industries, 123 N.C. App. 200, 472 S.E.2d 382, cert. denied, 344 N.C. 629, 477 S.E.2d 39 (1996).
At issue in Franklin was whether the Commission’s findings supported its conclusion awarding the plaintiff temporary total disability and denying her permanent disability. Although the Commission found that Franklin reached maximum medical improvement on 4 January 1994, it concluded that she was “entitled to temporary total disability compensation until the end of the healing period[.]” On appeal, this Court held that “[t]emporary total disability is payable only ‘during the healing period[,]’ ” and that “[t]he ‘healing period’ ends when an employee reaches ‘maximum medical improvement. ’ ” Id. at 204-05, 472 S.E.2d at 385 (emphasis added) (citations omitted). The Court further held that since the Commission determined that the plaintiff reached maximum medical improvement on 4 January 1993, it erred in awarding the plaintiff temporary total disability after that date. Id. at 206, 472 S.E.2d at 386.
In my view, Franklin is indistinguishable from and, thus, is controlling as to the present case. According to the Franklin court, maximum medical improvement, by definition, means that the employee’s healing period has ended. Thus, it is not necessary that the Commission independently find that healing is complete before it can determine that permanent disability is appropriate. Therefore, I vote to reverse the Commission’s award of temporary total disability benefits.
*236I, likewise, agree with plaintiffs argument that the Commission erred in requiring her to continue cooperating with vocational rehabilitation, as this portion of the Commission’s award is also contrary to the Commission’s findings of fact. The Commission found that plaintiff has been incapable of earning wages with defendant or any other employer since 10 April 1992; that she reached maximum medical improvement on 13 September 1993; and that no evidence was presented to show that there are any actual jobs she could successfully perform. The Commission did not find that plaintiff could actually benefit from further vocational rehabilitation or that it would assist her in restoring her impaired earning capacity. Hence, because the requirement that plaintiff continue vocational rehabilitation lacks support in the Commission’s findings, I would reverse the award accordingly.
For the foregoing reasons, the opinion and award of the Commission should be reversed, and this matter should be remanded for a determination of that amount to which plaintiff is entitled for the permanent disability to her back and the aggravation of her existing venous stasis leg ulcer.