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Shoemaker v. Creative Builders6/4/2002
rehabilitation program and job search directed by defendants' vocational consultant.
In an administrative order dated 18 December 1996, Deputy Commissioner Taylor denied defendants' motion to compel plaintiff to participate in a thirty-day Goodwill Industries work skill evaluation program. Defendants appealed the order by filing a Form 33 Request for Hearing. In response, plaintiff asserted that the evidence supported denial of the motion. He claims to be permanently and totally disabled and therefore should not be required to engage in a futile search for employment.
In January, 1997, prior to the hearing, plaintiff was driving a motor vehicle and crashed into a power pole. Plaintiff said he started to jerk all over just before the collision and his hands were "spinning." He next remembered a state trooper knocking on his window. Plaintiff was treated for fractures resulting from the car wreck. He had at least two additional seizure-like episodes in April.
Plaintiff was admitted to Greensboro Charter Hospital on 30 June 1997 and remained there until 9 July 1997 under the care of Dr. Rupinder Kaur, a psychiatrist, for treatment of depression, insomnia, and severe panic attacks. Kaur's findings were consistent with the diagnosis of a frontal lobe syndrome with affective lability due to encephalitis. Approximately a year later, plaintiff was again hospitalized at Greensboro Charter Hospital after he told Kaur that he was suicidal and planned to shoot himself. Kaur said that plaintiff's depression requires a psychiatrist to monitor his condition and medications for the remainder of his life. She also said plaintiff is not capable of entering into the workplace or even a sheltered workshop because of his psychiatric problems, namely, his inability to deal with people. Hurwitz, meanwhile, treated plaintiff again several times in 1997. He considered the option of basic work for plaintiff in a sheltered workshop, but eventually came to the conclusion that it would not be appropriate because of plaintiff's personality disorder.
At the hearing in September, 1997, Deputy Commissioner William C. Bost ruled in favor of plaintiff, finding that he was not required to participate in a vocational evaluation at Goodwill Industries, and that he was permanently totally disabled and thus entitled to compensation for the remainder of his life. Defendants appealed to the Full Commission.
By order entered 16 January 2001, the Full Commission found that " ince January 24, 1995, plaintiff has been incapable of earning wages . . . as a result of physical, cognitive[,] and emotional impairments from his July 14, 1992 injury by accident and related encephalitis." It further concluded that defendant is "totally and permanently disabled . . . for the remainder of his life." The Commission awarded plaintiff benefits in the amount of $253.53 per week for the remainder of his life, reasonable medical expenses, and $750.00 in attorneys' fees because of defendants' appeal to the Full Commission. Defendants appeal.
In reviewing an award of the Commission, the appellate court is limited to determining whether there was competent evidence before the Commission and whether the findings of fact support the Commission's conclusions of law. Deese v. Champion Int'l. Corp., 352 N.C. 109, 116, 530 S.E.2d 549, 553 (2000). The Commission's findings of fact are conclusive on appeal even when there is evidence to support contrary findings. Hendrix v. Linn-Corriher Corp., 317 N.C. 179, 186, 345 S.E.2d 374, 379 (1986).
By defendants' first assignment of error, they contend the Commission erred in finding plaintiff to be permanently and totally disabled. They point to evidence
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