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Kerns v. Midwest Conveyor2/10/2004
by competent and substantial evidence upon the whole record.'
Section 287.495.1 of the Missouri statutes further indicates that a ' court, on appeal, shall review only questions of law and may modify, reverse, remand for rehearing, or set aside the award upon any of the following grounds and no other:
(1) That the commission acted without or in excess of its powers;
(2) That the award was produced by fraud;
(3) That the facts found by the commission do not support the award;
(4) That there was not sufficient competent evidence in the record to warrant the making of the award.'
The constitutional standard ('supported by competent and substantial evidence upon the whole record') is in harmony with the statutory standard ('sufficient competent evidence in the record'). A court must examine the whole record to determine if it contains sufficient competent and substantial evidence to support the award, i.e., whether the award is contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence. Whether the award is supported by competent and substantial evidence is judged by examining the evidence in the context of the whole record. An award that is contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence is, in context, not supported by competent and substantial evidence.
Thus, in reviewing an award of workers' compensation benefits, we must examine the whole record to determine if it contains sufficient competent and substantial evidence to support the award. Bearing in mind that, in the context of workers' compensation, if the award is contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence contained in the record, it cannot be considered to be supported by sufficient competent and substantial evidence. Id.
I.
In Point I, the appellant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to establish the requisite causal connection between the accident and the respondent's alleged injuries resulting in his disability. In Point II, it challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to establish the respondent' s alleged disability. Inasmuch as the issue of the causal connection between the respondent's alleged injuries and the accident is not presented, unless there is sufficient evidence to establish that the respondent suffered disabling injuries, we logically address Point II first.
In Point II, the appellant claims that the Commission erred in finding that the respondent was permanently and totally disabled because there was not substantial and competent evidence from which to find, as required, that the respondent was not able to return to employment, and, even if there were such evidence, the Commission's finding was against the weight of the evidence. Specifically, the appellant claims that the Commission erred because:
the expert opinions of the doctors relied on by the LIRC have no objective factual basis, none of claimant's injuries are substantiated by objective tests, but only by claimant's own complaints, which testing demonstrates are exaggerated, the court misstated the facts, claimant's activities since the accident demonstrate he has recovered and the evidence demonstrates claimant suffers neither organic brain damage nor other mental or physical problems as a result of the accident.
Under Missouri's Workers' Compensation Law (WCL), sections 287.010-.975, an employer is liable to furnish compensation to an employee for personal injury or death by accident arising out of and in the course of his employment. Section 287.120.1. In that regard, the Commission found that the respondent, while working for the appellant at the Ford Motor Plant in Claycomo, was injured when he "slipped
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