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Hammock v. Weyerhaeuser12/14/2005
Before PEATROSS, DREW and MOORE, JJ.
In this workers' compensation case, claimant David Hammock suffers from a serious back injury that he attributes to a work-related accident. The claimant did not contemporaneously report the accident, which was unwitnessed, and Weyerhaeuser, the employer, refused to pay compensation benefits when the claimant reported the accident several months later. The claimant made a formal claim for compensation, and the Workers' Compensation Judge ("WCJ") found for the claimant and awarded him indemnity benefits, penalties, and attorney fees. Weyerhaeuser appeals. We amend and affirm.
FACTS
David Hammock was employed by Weyerhaeuser at its lumber mill in Dodson, Louisiana, as a "green end off-bearer." Hammock's duties required him to move wood veneer off a conveyor belt, grade the wood, and, using buggies, move it from a stacking machine to another location. During this operation, the sheets of veneer sometimes fell off the stacking machine and stopped the machine from operating, at which time the workers would have to manually move the approximately 3,000-pound load of veneer off of the machine.
Hammock testified that on an unspecified date in August 2002, the stacking machine malfunctioned in this manner. He said that he and a co-worker, Roy Poland, then pushed the stack of veneer to clear the machine, and that in the process he felt "a popping in my lower back and a tingling in my legs." Hammock did not report this incident when it happened, although he testified that he said "ouch" and told Poland that he thought he felt something in his back. Poland recalled moving a load of veneer with Hammock once or twice but did not remember Hammock complaining about his back. Hammock stated that soon thereafter, he told other co-workers, Robert Thompson and Kenny Ayers, about the incident. Thompson remembered Hammock complaining about his back pain and attributing the pain to pushing a load of veneer at work. Ayers remembered Hammock telling him in 2002 that he had hurt his back pushing a load of wood and asking Ayers whether or not he should tell the supervisor about the incident.
Hammock had previously been a supervisor with Weyerhaeuser and was familiar with Weyerhaeuser's policy requiring employees to report accidents. However, Hammock testified that he deliberately elected not to formally report his injury to the company out of fear that a reported accident would interfere with his chances of being promoted to training supervisor and might contribute to the risk of Weyerhaeuser closing the Dodson plant. Hammock also did not make a note of the injury in his personal journal, which he explained by stating that "other people had access to my journal and I didn't . . . really want to report the incident as an accident."
Hammock testified that after this incident, he began to suffer from persistent back pain and tried without success to obtain relief with home remedies. He first told his supervisor, Robert Gorham, about his incident and the associated pain on November 7, 2002. Gorham testified that Hammock asked "how he could go to the doctor with his back without having an accident, you know, claim on the company." Gorham recalled Hammock saying that the accident had occurred three to four months earlier.
Hammock stated that Gorham was his supervisor at the time of the incident, and that his previous supervisor had been a man named O. C. Foster, with whom he did not have a good relationship. Another employee, Michael Skipper, stated that Foster was still Hammock's supervisor when Hammock said he hurt himself. Yet another employee, Gary Hemphill, also testified that Hammock told him that Foster was his s
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