ALJ PATRICK ROSENOW DECIDES CLAIMANT IS PERMANENTLY PARTIALLY DISABLED

Davey P. Richey v. Premiere, Inc
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Excerpts

Claimant’s position is that the work related injury to his left thumb and left hand

combined with his preexisting injuries to aggravate his preexisting psychological
condition and make him permanently and totally disabled. In the alternative, Claimant
argues he is temporarily totally disabled because his aggravated preexisting psychological
condition is not yet at maximum medical improvement (MMI). Employer counters that
Claimant has been compensated for the permanent partial disability (PPD) rating to his
left thumb, and that it owes him no further benefits. Employer also also argues that Claimant’s psychological treatments are exclusively related to his preexisting conditions and that there has been no worsening of his pain or psychological condition since the work accident.

Conclusion

Claimant testified that because he made a career doing hard labor, he is still

stronger than most people his age, but that he did not think he could, for example, wash
dishes, handle money, or write orders eight hours per day. However, he was able to wash
dishes at Teen Challenge in 2010-2011 for four to six hours per day, which required him
to stand and use both of his hands. The positions listed were all light-to-medium duty,
and one of them, the security guard at Vinson Security, was part-time. I find that based
on the evidence presented, Claimant is capable of performing at least the part-time

security guard position, which paid between $8.00 and $10.00 per hour, and which

required no lifting, but frequent sitting, standing, and walking. Employer therefore
established suitable alternative employment on 7 Dec 11.
I therefore find Claimant became permanently partially disabled on 7 Dec 11 with
a loss of 4% use of his left hand