Koon v. Spartan Mills
Koon v. Spartan Mills
Opinion of the Court
Appellant Irene Koon contracted a pulmonary disease working for respondent Spartan Mills. She filed this claim for benefits with the Industrial Commission, and a hearing commissioner awarded compensation up to 500 weeks. However, the Commission reversed, finding (1) Mrs. Koon does not suffer a compensable disease, and (2) even if she does, her claim is barred by the statute of limitations. The circuit court affirmed. We affirm.
A circuit court will either affirm a decision of the Commission, or, it will reverse “if substantial rights of the appellant have been prejudiced because the administrative findings [are, among other things, clearly] erroneous in view of the substantial evidence on the whole record.” S. C. Code Ann. § l-23-380(g)(5) (1976 & Supp. 1984); Lark v. Bi-Lo, Inc., 276 S. C. 130, 276 S. E. (2d) 304, 307 (1981).
Mrs. Koon, age sixty-four, has worked in textile mills since she was twenty-two. From 1955 to 1976 she worked with cotton products in a Spartan Mills plant, first.in the winding room, and later in the weave room. In 1974 Mrs. Koon began having respiratory problems and consulted Dr. Jack M. Whittaker, a family practitioner. Dr. Whittaker testified on direct examination that in 1976 he (1) “recommended [Mrs. Koon] was having probably an occupational type asthma [and felt] she was going to have to retire from the environmental work she was in,” and (2) “diagnosed [her condition] as more or less of an occupational asthma.” However, he testified on cross-examination he (1) had not used
Total disability for purposes of the Workers’ Compensation Law, “means the physical inability to perform work in any occupation.” Section 42-11-20.
Substantial evidence, for purposes of the Administrative Procedures Act, “is evidence which, considering the record as a whole, would allow reasonable minds to reach the conclusion the administrative agency reached.” Laws v. Richland School District One, 270 S. C. 492, 243 S. E. (2d) 192, 193 (1978). This record contains evidence which allows reasonable minds to reach the Commission’s conclusion Mrs. Koon is disabled by cotton dust from working in her previous occupation, but not from working in any occupation.
Our determination of the total disability question renders unnecessary our consideration of the statute of limitations problem. Section 42-15-40 provides, “The right to compensation under this title shall be forever barred unless a claim is filed with the Commission within two years after an acci
Affirmed.
The South Carolina decisions have interpreted the statute to mean disability in compensation cases is to be measured by loss of earning capacity, not complete physical helplessness. See e.g., Coleman v. Quality Concrete Products, Inc., 245 S. C. 625, 142 S. E. (2d) 43 (1965); Colvin v. E. I. Du Pont De Nemours Company, 227 S. C. 465, 88 S. E. (2d) 581 (1955).
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.