|
|
| |
| Thu, Dec. 4, 2008 |  |
 |
|
||
| |
Wal-Mart employee's injury claim upheld Thursday, May 3, 2007 Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - The state Court of Appeals on Wednesday rejected a Wal-Mart appeal in affirming a decision to award benefits to a worker injured at a company store in Alma. The appeals court concluded there was substantial evidence to support a state Workers' Compensation Commission's finding that Wal-Mart employee Cynthia Davis sustained a compensable injury. Davis, a store employee, fell from a ladder while working at the Alma Wal-Mart on Feb. 25, 2005. She continued to work after the fall. About a week later she began experiencing pain in her arm, shoulder and neck, but did not link the pain to her fall until May 27, 2005, when she was seen by a neurosurgeon, court records showed. The doctor wrote in his notes that he believed the fall brought about the injury to the neck. An administrative law judge found in favor of Davis during a benefits hearing, saying the doctor "has opined that based on (Davis') report of her fall that her injuries are result of this event." The commission upheld the decision to award benefits. Wal-Mart appealed, arguing that the doctor's opinion was not based on a reasonable degree of medical certainty, nor with any qualification of his degree of certainty. The Court of Appeals, which reviewed previous case law, disagreed, saying the doctor's "opinion regarding causation was unequivocal, we conclude that his opinion was stated within a reasonable degree of medical certainty." |
