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Durham v. Plum Creek Manufacturing5/10/2000
sibility of causal connection between the accident and the disabling condition. Further, an employee's pre-existing condition does not disqualify his claim if the work-related injury either aggravated or combined with the infirmity to produce the disability for which compensation is claimed. Poland v. Kroger, #404, supra; Harris v. Coushatta Industrial Sand, Inc., supra; Jackson v. Creger Automotive Company, Inc., 29,249 (La. App. 2d Cir. 4/2/97), 691 So. 2d 824, writ denied, 97-1436 (La. 9/26/97), 701 So. 2d 984. Correlatively, when an employee proves that before the accident, he had not manifested disabling symptoms, but that commencing with the accident the disabling symptoms appeared and manifested themselves thereafter, and that there is either medical or circumstantial evidence indicating a reasonable possibility of a causal connection between the accident and the activation of the disabling condition, the employee's work injury is presumed to have aggravated, accelerated or combined with his pre-existing disease or infirmity to produce his disability. Qualls v. Stone Container Corporation, 29,794 (La. App. 2d Cir. 9/24/97), 699 So. 2d 1137, writ denied, 97-2929 (La. App. 2/6/98), 709 So. 2d 736.
Whether a claimant has carried his burden of proof and whether the testimony is credible are questions of fact to be determined by the WCJ. Harris v. Coushatta Industrial Sand, Inc., supra. The WCJ's findings are subject to the manifest error rule. Only when documents or objective evidence so contradict the witness's story, or that story is so internally inconsistent or implausible on its face that a reasonable fact finder would not credit it, may the appellate court find manifest error. Taylor v. Columbian Chemicals, supra. Where there are two permissible views of evidence, the fact-finder's choice between them cannot be manifestly erroneous or clearly wrong. Stobart v. State, Through Department of Transportation and Development, 617 So. 2d 880 (La. 1993).
At trial, the plaintiff acknowledged that in 1993 he injured his back at work when the seat of his forklift came off. He saw Dr. Sandifer for treatment of pain in his back, leg and hip and was diagnosed with a herniated disc. His symptoms improved sufficiently that he was able to return to work. Although in the five years since that accident the plaintiff experienced some back pain, he did not seek medical treatment.
Several weeks before the present accident, the plaintiff requested a back brace from Plum Creek to wear at work. However, on the evening of April 23, 1998, he stated that he felt his back pop while straightening loads with the forklift. His leg and back immediately became painful. He claimed that he told his lead man, Edward Wright, that straightening the loads made his back hurt. He claimed that the next day, he reported the accident to his supervisor, Jimmy Atwell, but that Atwell walked away from him. He worked for several days after the injury , but his back became progressively worse. On the last night he worked, the plaintiff stated that another forklift operator, Charles Smith, had to help him to his truck. The plaintiff went to Dr. Sandifer on May 1, 1998 and then went the emergency room of the Winn Parish Medical Center on May 6, 1998, because his back medication was affecting his heart.
The plaintiff's wife, Annette Durham, testified that on April 23, 1998, the plaintiff came home from work and stated that his back was hurting. She stated that up until the plaintiff's present claim of injury , she had not heard him complain of back pain. However, after his claimed injury on April 23, 1998, he walked like he was in pain.
Charles R. Smith was also a forklift operator in the same area whe
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