Flint Construction Co. v. Hall12/30/2004
ormed him that at that point the expenses for his knee injury totaled over $68,000.
According to Hall, although he continued to work his left knee still bothered him. In late January 1996, Hall testified that he had a telephone conversation with Good in which he told Good about the problems he was having at work because of the pain in his knee. He said:
"I called Bob from Savannah, Georgia and I told him the situation. And he told me, well--y'all excuse me, Bob and I had a close relationship and we always used first names. He said, 'well, Lad, it's wintertime and you know things are slow.' He said, 'you got things so you can leave?' I said, 'yes, sir.' I said, 'they don't want but a four-man crew down here, a welder and three workers with him.' And he said, 'well, that been taken care of?' And I said, 'yes, sir. The welder's here and Petro Fowler and Raymond King--' and, I believe, Earl Tyson was the three mens I was leaving down there with him. And he said, 'well, you go home and take care of what you got to do to get your leg well and just when you get ready to come back, come back.' And I said, 'yes, sir.' So, I left."
Good testified that he did not recall such a conversation.
In addition to the problems with his knee, Hall was diagnosed in March 1996 with diabetes, and he was hospitalized for several days in late March for that illness. Flint's employment records reflect that Hall did not work from January 26, 1996, until April 13, 1996. He was paid his full salary from January 26 until approximately three weeks before he returned to work. He was paid one-half of his regular salary for those three weeks.
Eaves, the general superintendent, testified that in March 1996 he tried repeatedly to reach Hall to find out where he was and why he was not working. Eaves says that when he could not reach Hall by telephone, he wrote him a letter. The record contains a letter to Hall from Eaves dated March 7, 1996, in which Eaves stated that if Flint did not hear from Hall within "a reasonable time frame (14 days)," his position would be considered vacated. Hall testified that he could not think of any reason why Eaves had not been able to reach him by telephone and that after receiving the letter from Eaves, he telephoned Good. He said:
"I told him I was still off getting my leg better. And I told him I was, you know, generally sick, I just didn't have no strength. I didn't know what was wrong and I told him I was sick, too. And at this time, Bob told me, he said, 'all right.' He said, 'well, come back --' you know, he told me again to don't worry about it."
The record also contains a letter to Hall from Good dated March 20, in which Good stated that Hall would be discharged on April 6, 1996, unless he contacted Flint. After receiving that letter, Hall testified that he again telephoned Good. He said:
"At this time, I had received a letter from Bob [Good]. And I called Bob from the hospital and told him I was in the hospital and I was diagnosed as a diabetic. And he said, 'diabetic?' He said, 'well, that's sort of serious now.' And I said, 'yeah. My blood sugar was over six hundred.' ... He told me to get better and when I got better, to come back."
Hall returned to work full-time in April 1996.
James Eaves testified that among Flint's complaints about Hall was Hall's refusal to take a job assignment in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in February 1997. Hall testified that he had a conversation with Eaves in February 1997 at Flint's annual safety meeting in which Eaves told him he had three projects he needed help on--one in Chattanooga, one in Bastrop, Louisiana, and one in Atlanta, Georgia. Hall said
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