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Sneed v. Morengo Inc.11/8/1994
While employed by Morengo, Inc., Jerry Lynn Sneed was injured in a work-related accident for which he received workers' compensation benefits. Later, he was injured in another work-related accident while working for a different employer. Sneed settled his claim for workers' compensation benefits with the second employer and brought a new claim for additional benefits against Morengo. Sneed appeals from the decision of the commission denying additional benefits from Morengo and argues that the commission erred (1) in ruling that his settlement of the second claim, without participation by Morengo, barred his claims for benefits from Morengo, (2) in finding that he failed to prove that his physical and psychological problems were related to the injury by accident he suffered while employed by Morengo, and (3) in finding that he failed to prove that his temporomandibular joint (TMJ) syndrome was related to the injury by accident he suffered while employed by Morengo. We affirm the commission's decision.
I.
In December 1986, while Sneed was employed by Morengo as a blow torch operator, he slipped and fell while working on a beam. Sneed struck his head, causing a fracture of his nose and a laceration over his eye. He also injured his knee and suffered burn injuries
to his neck and knee. Although Sneed was not hospitalized, he was totally disabled until May 1987, when he returned to selective employment at a restaurant. Morengo accepted the claim as compensable.
Sneed later began to suffer from debilitating headaches and successfully applied to the commission for an award of temporary total disability benefits beginning in August 1987. The medical records establish that in May 1989, Sneed entered a hospital in Fredericksburg where Dr. Mark Miller attributed Sneed's depression and muscle tension headaches to the 1986 accident. Dr. Miller also noted that Sneed may have been biologically predisposed to depression due to his early history of a nervous breakdown, and Dr. Miller reported that Sneed stated he "had been depressed all his life." The commission found that Sneed had suffered from post-traumatic depression from the time of the 1986 injury and concluded that the employer was liable for Sneed's hospitalization.
In November 1989, Sneed moved to Rocky Mount, Virginia, and he obtained full-time employment with the Home Shopping Network (HSN) in its Salem warehouse. Sneed also began treatment in Roanoke with Dr. Don Bivins, a neurologist. In reciting the history of his injury, Sneed told Dr. Bivins that he "was rendered unconscious by the accident." Dr. Bivins reported that Sneed experienced mild to moderate tenderness on deep palpation of the temporomandibular joints and a modest degree of muscle spasm in the cervical area on the right. Although Dr. Bivins had none of Sneed's medical records, he expressed concern that Sneed "may have a temporomandibular joint syndrome, which also could have arisen from the accident in December of 1986." Dr. Bivins recommended that Sneed treat primarily with his psychiatrist, Dr. William Clarkson, and also referred Sneed to Dr. William Swann, D.D.S., for an evaluation to determine whether Sneed had post-traumatic TMJ syndrome.
Dr. Clarkson observed that Sneed's depressive symptoms may have increased when Sneed ran out of medication prescribed by Dr. Miller. Under treatment from Dr. Clarkson, Sneed's depression stabilized, and he was able to continue working. Sneed testified that while he was employed at HSN, he continued to experience headaches, neck stiffness, and muscle spasms in his chest, ribs, and upper back.
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