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JACKSON v. COMPTRONIX CORP.2/2/1996
Denise Wilson Jackson appeals from a judgment denying her workmen's compensation benefits for an injury she sustained at Comptronix Corporation on July 9, 1991.
In 1982, when she was 14 years old, Jackson was seriously injured in a motor vehicle accident. She sustained a broken leg and a depressed skull fracture that required surgical insertion of a plate in her forehead. Beginning in 1987, Jackson consulted several physicians for lower back pain. In 1988, she reported to Dr. James White, a Gadsden neurosurgeon, that she had had lower back pain ever since her car accident in 1982. She told Dr. White that the pain was so severe that she was "unable to participate in any of her daily activities." Dr. White hospitalized Jackson for tests, including a myelogram. He concluded that she had an osteophyte, or bony spur, impinging on a nerve in her lumbar spine and that she was suffering from lumbar strain.
Jackson began working at Comptronix on September 26, 1988, when she was 20 years old. On July 9, 1991, Jackson leaned over to pick up a box at work, and she felt a sharp pain in her back. That evening, she went to the emergency room of a local hospital where she was treated with anti-inflammatory and pain medications. She received no relief from those medications and, two days later, she went to her family physician, Dr. Thomas Darnell. Dr. Darnell prescribed additional medication and suggested rest. Complaining that she still had pain, Jackson returned to Dr. Darnell on July 15, and Dr. Darnell put her in the hospital.
Jackson remained in the hospital for seven days. During that time she had X-rays of her spine and physical therapy, and she was evaluated by Dr. Joe Kendra, an orthopedic surgeon. Dr. Kendra diagnosed her condition as lumbosacral strain.
Following the July 9, 1991, injury, Jackson was out of work for 10 months, during which time she became pregnant. She returned to light duty work at Comptronix on May 11, 1992, and stayed for a little over a month. On June 15, 1992, when she was six months pregnant, she fell at work. She began to experience pains that she thought were pre-term labor contractions; she consulted her obstetrician, who hospitalized her for observation. On the advice of her obstetrician, she began her maternity leave that day. She never returned to work after the birth of her child, because of back pain.
Jackson filed a complaint for workmen's compensation benefits for two work-related injuries: the first on July 9, 1991, resulting, she alleged, in a hurt back; and the second on June 15, 1992, causing, she alleged, injured muscles in her lower stomach. Comptronix
paid Jackson's medical expenses for the 1991 injury, as well as temporary total disability benefits of $4005.68. At trial, the parties stipulated that Jackson's claim for medical expenses or compensation arising from the 1992 injury was without merit.
Following ore tenus proceedings, the trial court found that Jackson was totally and permanently disabled, but that her disability was "not caused or contributed to" by the 1991 on-the-job injury. The judgment of the court states, in pertinent part:
"There is no question in the court's mind, the court finds that at the present time, the plaintiff is totally disabled to earn because of severe back pain and there is no reason to think that said condition is anything other than permanent. The more difficult question for the court to determine is whether or not the back pain is caused by or at least contributed to by the accident of July 9th.
"Medical evidence is far from clear. On November 20, Dr. Murray wrote the workers compensation insurance company: 'Ms. Jackson's back
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