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Mitchell v. Winnfield Holding Corp.12/17/2003
stent with his office notes. He testified:
I think he shouldn't do repetitive bending at the waist. He shouldn't lift over fifteen to twenty pounds. He shouldn't stand for over forty-five minutes to an hour at a time up to five hours in an eight hour day. He probably shouldn't sit over thirty to forty-five minutes at a time up to four to five hours in an eight hour day. . . . He probably - if he's driving, he may need to stop and get out and stretch every forty-five minutes to an hour or so.
The workers' compensation judge found Mr. Mitchell could return to his employment at Winnfield Funeral Home. He stated:
Doctor Sandifer only released him from employment at the funeral home under the belief that there was no light-duty work available.
Subsequently Mr. Darby in his vocational rehabilitation efforts locates jobs that involve washing and detailing and waxing motor vehicles, precisely what Mr. Mitchell was doing at the Nurturing Nook. I really doubt that he did anything other for the Nurturing Nook but wash vans.
So he was capable of the light-duty work of washing vans. He was taken off of only heavy-duty work. It's clear to this Court that if had Doctor Sandifer known he has a job at the Nurturing Nook washing vans that Doctor Sandifer would have permitted him to continue that work. The records reflect he received some monies from the Nurturing Nook all the way through the end of April 2001.
There's an FCE that says he can do light-duty work. His only explanation that he can't do any work at all is his complaints of pain which are totally disregarded by this Court because he lacks complete credibility.
He has no objective medical evidence of - of any injury to his back. His neurological examinations are normal. His orthopedic examinations are normal except for the very beginning when he does have spasms and a positive straight leg raising test.
An MRI was performed, reported by Doctor Sandifer as normal. The MRI results from the radiologist are not in the records so there's no indication that he has a bulging disk or even degenerative back disease.
Moreover Mr. Mitchell had carpal tunnel surgery as a result of prior employment with ConAgra. And in May of 1999 Doctor Sandifer gave permanent restrictions to Mr. Mitchell of not lifting over ten to fifteen pounds, stated that these were permanent restrictions. Well, these are the same restrictions that Doctor Sandifer has placed upon Mr. Mitchell after examining for this back problem.
And this Court concludes that he's entirely uncredible as to his complaints. Observed him carefully during the trial, went through the records very carefully.
He has not shown this Court that he's unable to do the same type of work he was able to do when he began his employment with the Winnfield Holding Corporation.
The record does not support the finding of the workers' compensation judge that Mr. Mitchell could return to his prior employment. The medical evidence indicates Mr. Mitchell was capable of light duty work but was not capable of returning to Winnfield Funeral Home due to the heavy lifting. The workers' compensation judge found he was capable of returning to his job at the Nurturing Nook because " I really doubt that he did anything other for the Nurturing Nook but wash vans." There is no evidence in the record to support this conclusion.
In fact, it seems unlikely that any employer would pay an employee $800.00 a month to wash and detail two vans. Mr. Mitchell testified, in addition to washing the vans (for which he was paid $200.00 a month), he maintained the property and buildings for the Nurturin
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