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Winfield v. Jiffy Lube3/28/2002
ctory circumstances and evidence, a claimant's testimony is accorded great weight. Bruno, 593 So.2d at 361. The determinations by the workers' compensation judge as to whether the claimant's testimony is credible and whether the claimant has discharged his burden of proof are factual determinations and will not be disturbed upon review in the absence of manifest error or unless clearly wrong. Id.
The OWC judge, when giving his oral ruling, made reference to the fact that the incident as alleged by Ms. Winfield was not unwitnessed. At least four persons witnessed the incident, including Ms. Lejeune, whose testimony was presented by Jiffy. The OWC judge indicated that he had nothing to corroborate the testimony of Ms. Winfield. The only witness to testify was Ms. LeJeune, and she testified that Ms. Winfield did not participate in pushing the car back into the service bay. Ms. Winfield could have also presented the testimony of witnesses to corroborate her testimony. According to the OWC judge, it was a credibility call on his part. Ms. Winfield simply did not satisfy her burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that the accident did in fact occur.
As previously indicated, the determinations by the OWC judge as to whether Ms. Winfield's testimony is credible, whether Ms. LeJeune's testimony is credible, and whether Ms. Winfield has discharged her burden of proof are factual determinations that will not be disturbed on review in the absence of manifest error. In this case, the OWC judge found Ms. LeJeune to be a credible witness and concluded that Ms. Winfield did not participate in the pushing of the car. As a result, the OWC judge determined that no work-related accident was proven to have occurred to cause injury to Ms. Winfield. Based upon a complete review of the record, we cannot say that the judge was clearly wrong in finding that Ms. Winfield did not prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, that she was injured in a work-related accident during the course and scope of her employment. As a result of this finding, we pretermit addressing the other asserted assignments of error.
CONCLUSION
For the above and foregoing reasons, the judgment of the OWC judge dismissing Ms. Winfield's claim for workers' compensation benefits is affirmed. Costs associated with this appeal are assessed against Lisa Winfield.
AFFIRMED.
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