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Ruffin v. Compass Group USA6/4/2002
PUBLISHED
Compass Group USA ("employer") and CNA Risk Management Co. ("carrier")(collectively "defendants") appeal from an opinion and award entered by the North Carolina Industrial Commission ("Full Commission") awarding Beverly Ruffin ("plaintiff") workers' compensation benefits. We affirm.
Pertinent facts and procedural history include the following: Plaintiff worked as a vendor, servicing vending machines in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. Her duties consisted of loading and unloading food supplies and soft drinks from her truck and stocking vending machines. Additionally, plaintiff was responsible for re-supplying cola machines with syrup. When a handcart was inaccessible, plaintiff was also responsible for manually carrying eight to ten cases of soda and lifting forty-pound boxes of syrup.
Plaintiff operated the same vending route for a year; however, in April 1998, her route changed. Although plaintiff's normal job duties were not altered by her new route, there was a significant change in the amount of her work load including longer hours and more lifting and straining than her job normally required.
On 9 May 1998, plaintiff pulled a forty-pound box of syrup from the truck. As she lifted the box, plaintiff felt a cramp in her left shoulder blade. The next morning, plaintiff experienced pain in her left shoulder and numbness in her left arm and fingers. Plaintiff reported to the emergency room with complaints of "pain in her left side of her upper back" and was referred to Carolina Regional Orthopaedics. On 21 May 1999, plaintiff was examined by Dr. Miller, a spine specialist. Dr. Miller reviewed plaintiff's MRI which revealed pre-existing problems including an unusual curvature of the spine and disc herniations and concluded that the 9 May 1999 injury aggravated these pre-existing conditions. Dr. David C. Miller ("Dr. Miller") further stated that the aggravation of plaintiff's herniated disc resulted in nerve impingement which caused plaintiff's neck and left shoulder pain. After surgery, plaintiff returned to work with restrictions against repeated lifting of more than forty pounds.
Plaintiff filed a claim for workers' compensation benefits. On 22 January 1999, a hearing was held before Deputy Commissioner Amy L. Pfeiffer. In an opinion filed 17 November 1999, Deputy Commissioner Pfeiffer denied plaintiff's claim, concluding that plaintiff did not sustain an injury by accident arising out of and in the course of her employment. Plaintiff appealed to the Full Commission and with one member dissenting, the Full Commission reversed the opinion and award of the Deputy Commissioner and made the following pertinent finding of fact:
12. On 9 May 1998, plaintiff suffered an injury resulting from a specific traumatic incident which arose out of and in the course of her employment with defendant-employer, and which aggravated a pre existing condition of her cervical spine.
The Commission concluded that plaintiff suffered a "compensable injury in the form of the aggravation of a pre-existing condition as a direct result of a specific traumatic incident arising out of and in the course of her employment" with defendants. From this opinion and resulting award, defendants appeal.
In the first assignment of error, defendants contend that the Full Commission erred when it found as a fact and concluded as a matter of law that plaintiff suffered a compensable back injury resulting from a "specific traumatic injury" arising out of and during the course of employment. For the reasons discussed below, we disagree.
First we note that in reviewing an opinion and award entered by the Full Commission, our inquiry
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