Smith v. School Board of Polk County
Smith v. School Board of Polk County
Opinion of the Court
Appellant/elaimant, Mollie Smith, challenges an order of the judge of compensation claims (JCC) in which he found, among other things, that her industrial accident caused merely a temporary exacerbation of a preexisting condition. Although we find competent, substantial evidence (CSE) to support the JCC’s finding that Smith is not permanently and totally disabled, there is no CSE to support the finding of temporary exacerbation. We therefore affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand.
On April 6, 1992, while working as a bus attendant for the employer, School Board of Polk County, assisting in loading and unloading exceptional-education students and traveling with them, Smith suffered a compensa-ble accident when she fell from a seat in a turning bus and injured her lower back.
The JCC’s findings that claimant’s back problems were the result of a temporary exacerbation of a preexisting condition, because of her history of arthritis aggravated by her obesity, and that she has no permanent impairment (PI), are not supported by competent, substantial evidence. Although Dr. Arturo Perez, Smith’s family physician between July 1988 and October 1992, emphatically believes that claimant could eliminate her back problems if she were to lose a significant amount of weight, he never altered his opinion that the bus accident aggravated her preexisting arthritic condition. Moreover, the last time Dr. Perez had rendered care for Smith’s back complaints was 15 months before her bus accident. During the two years claimant worked as a bus attendant, she was never disabled in any way because of the condition and she testified that she had no difficulty performing her job. Indeed, Dr. Perez testified that claimant never reported, before the industrial accident, that her work in any way had aggravated her back pain.
Although Dr. Perez noted in July 1992 that Smith’s back pain was asymptomatic, which the JCC found significant, the doctor’s subsequent report in September indicated “low-back syndrome.” By then, he had started her on an anti-inflammatory drug, Predni-sone, for temporal arteritis.
Dr. Patrick D. Sullivan, an orthopedic surgeon who treated claimant, testified that
The JCC below noted Dr. Sullivan’s finding regarding PI, but did not give any reason for rejecting it other than observing that Dr. Perez had opined that if Smith lost a sufficient amount of weight, she would no longer have back problems. The JCC concluded that Dr. Pfaff “found no evidence of any impairment that he could attribute to the industrial accident.” Admittedly, Dr. Pfaff found no relationship between claimant’s shoulder, neck and right-upper extremity complaints and her industrial accident, but, in regard to her low-back problem, he opined that both her pre-accident physical condition and her fall contributed to her current complaints.
The situation in this case is comparable to that in Luttrell v. Roger Holler Chevrolet, 625 So.2d 921 (Fla. 1st DCA 1993), in which we reversed the JCC’s finding that Luttrell’s industrial injury was a temporary exacerbation of a previous back injury and that he suffered no PI from the current injury alone. The evidence showed that Luttrell had missed only three days of work and was not subject to any work limitations following his prior accident, whereas after his second injury, he was first given a PI rating, and five physicians placed limitations on his ability to work. Similarly, in the case at bar, Smith had no back problems that disabled her from working prior to her industrial accident but has had constant problems ever since, as well as a PI rating and the placement of work restrictions by two physicians.
Therefore, we reverse that portion of the JCC’s order concluding that Smith temporarily exacerbated a preexisting condition, as it is unsupported by competent, substantial evidence. We affirm, however, the JCC’s finding that claimant is not permanently and totally disabled, because the evidence discloses she is able to perform fight work uninterruptedly, and she did not conduct an adequate work search. Smith has extensive experience as a hairdresser, but she did not seek such employment during the course of her seven-month work search.
AFFIRMED IN PART, REVERSED IN PART, and REMANDED for further consistent proceedings.
. Inflammation of an artery in her skull.
. The other jobs the JCC considered claimant capable of performing do not appear to be within her medical restrictions.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Mollie B. SMITH v. SCHOOL BOARD OF POLK COUNTY anad Alexsis Risk Management
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published