Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith v. Andrews
Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith v. Andrews
Opinion of the Court
The claimant injured her right hand and right shoulder in April of 1977 while operating a hand stapler. The deputy commissioner found that she suffered an injury to the body as a whole and awarded compensation for a 15% permanent partial disability. The record will support a body as a whole award, but it will not support a 15% anatomical disability.
The deputy commissioner expressly accepted and based his rating upon the testimony of Dr. Harry Jones. The doctor’s testimony is incompatible with a 15% permanent partial disability rating of the body as a whole. It was his opinion that the claimant sustained a 15% permanent disability to the upper extremity, but when he was asked to transpose this rating to the body as a whole, he opined that such a rating would be between two and three per cent.
There being no other competent evidence in the record to support a 15% permanent partial disability to the body as a whole, the order is reversed and the cause is remanded to the deputy with directions that he enter an order consistent with the testimony of Dr. Jones.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.