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Webb Wheel Products6/3/2005
On Application for Rehearing
The opinion of December 30, 2004, is withdrawn, and the following is substituted therefor.
David Joshua Hanvey sued Webb Wheel Products, Inc., alleging that Webb Wheel had discharged him in retaliation for his filing a claim for workers' compensation benefits. After a trial, the jury returned a verdict in favor of Hanvey, awarding $80,000 in compensatory damages and $400,000 in punitive damages. The trial court entered a judgment on the jury's verdict. After the trial court denied Webb Wheel's postjudgment motion, Webb Wheel appealed. We reverse and remand.
I.
Webb Wheel manufactures wheels, wheel hubs, brake drums, and disk-brake rotors for large trucks and trailers. It has three manufacturing plants -- two in Cullman and one in Siloam Springs, Arkansas. Webb Wheel hired David Joshua Hanvey on September 19, 1999, as a production operator working on the drill press at one of the Cullman plants ("Cullman Plant #1"). Webb Wheel employs approximately 200 people at Cullman Plant #1.
On July 31, 2000, Hanvey suffered an on-the-job injury to his back. He reported the injury to his supervisor, Phillip Hill, and saw Webb Wheel's authorized physician, Dr. Dan Williams, who advised him not to work for one week. After a week's absence, Hanvey returned to work at his drill-press job . After about three hours, however, his back was hurting so badly that he reported it to Hill and returned to Dr. Williams, who recommended an MRI and a consultation with a neurosurgeon.
Webb Wheel self-insures its workers' compensation claims. At the time of Hanvey's injury , Alternative Insurance Resources ("AIR") was administering the paperwork required for workers' compensation claims, but all claims were paid directly by Webb Wheel, rather than by an insurance company. Lynn Alward, Webb Wheel's personnel manager, was responsible for handling the workers' compensation claims for the company. Hanvey alleges that, after his second visit to Dr. Williams, Alward told him that he could not work unless Dr. Williams released him with no restrictions. Alward consulted with Diane Ryan, the adjustor at AIR who administered workers' compensation claims for Webb Wheel, and Ryan telephoned Dr. Williams to tell him that an MRI would be authorized and that a neurological consultation could be discussed after the MRI results were received. Hanvey underwent an MRI, which revealed three bulging disks but was otherwise reported as an "essentially negative study." Webb Wheel then transferred Hanvey to another physician, who prescribed physical therapy. Hanvey was unable to work for approximately two and one-half months.
Hanvey testified that during the period in which he was temporarily disabled, he had problems receiving his workers' compensation benefits in a timely fashion. He said his checks were frequently late and sometimes for the wrong amount and that he had difficulty getting reimbursed for certain medical expenses. Because of these problems, Hanvey said, he asked Alward to allow him to pick his checks up at the plant, but she told him that the checks could not be hand delivered but had to be mailed. Alward testified that Webb Wheel's controller, Granville Hooper, told her it was against company policy for an employee to pick up his checks for workers' compensation benefits. Hooper testified, however, that he recalled no such conversation with Alward and that it would have been fine for Hanvey to pick up his checks. Hanvey testified that after his injury , Alward's attitude toward him changed; before his injury, he says, she was kind and helpful, but after his injury she was bitter and unhelpful.
Hanvey was fitted with a ba
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