Kirk v. K-Mart Corp.
| Docket Number: | 2002-WC-00026-COA | |
| Court of Appeals: |
Opinion Link Opinion Date: 02-25-2003 Opinion Author: Bridges, J. Holding: Affirmed |
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| Additional Case Information: |
Topic: Workers’ compensation - Mental injury - Proof of causal connection Judge(s) Concurring: McMillin, C.J., King and Southwick, P.JJ., Thomas, Irving, Myers, Chandler and Griffis, JJ. Non Participating Judge(s): Lee, J. Procedural History: Admin or Agency Judgment Nature of the Case: CIVIL - WORKERS' COMPENSATION |
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| Trial Court: |
Date of Trial Judgment: 12-18-2001 Appealed from: Yazoo County Circuit Court Judge: Jannie M. Lewis Disposition: AFFIRMED THE WORKERS' COMPENSATION COMMISSION'S DENIAL OF BENEFITS FOR MENTAL INJURY Case Number: 2001-CI-61 |
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| Party Name: | Attorney Name: | |||
| Appellant: | JANICE KIRK |
JOHN HUNTER STEVENS |
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| Appellee: | K-MART CORPORATION, SELF INSURED | H. BYRON CARTER III |
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| Topic: | Workers’ compensation - Mental injury - Proof of causal connection |
| Summary of the Facts: | While employed by K-Mart Corporation, Janice Kirk was diagnosed with a mental illness identified as a major depression. She filed a petition to controvert with the Mississippi Workers' Compensation Commission. K-Mart admitted the physical injury, but denied Kirk's psychological condition was work-related and asserted the two year statute of limitation precluded her action. The administrative law judge found Kirk's claim was not time barred and awarded temporary disability payments for Kirk's physical injury sustained when she fell from a ladder at work, and permanent total disability benefits for Kirk's psychological injuries in the amount of $264.55 each week, beginning October 16, 1996, and continuing for 450 weeks. K-Mart appealed, and the Full Commission affirmed the administrative law judge's order as it pertained to Kirk's physical injury, but reversed and set aside the part of the order finding Kirk entitled to permanent total disability benefits and medical treatment for her mental injury. Kirk appealed to circuit court which affirmed. Kirk appeals. |
| Summary of Opinion Analysis: | To recover benefits for a mental injury, Kirk must prove that her disabling mental injury was caused, contributed to or aggravated by a work-related physical injury. She must show something more than the ordinary incidents of employment occurred. Kirk argues that her disabling mental injury was sufficiently aggravated by the physical injury she suffered when she fell from a ladder at work. Proof of causal connection must rise above mere possibility. The medical evidence in this case indicated that the fall "may" have aggravated the pattern of headaches Kirk was suffering, which does not rise to the level of definiteness required to substantiate her claim. Kirk also argues that the stress of her job amounted to something more than the ordinary incidents of her employment. People work in stressful situations all the time and even though mental injuries result, the circumstances must be extraordinarily unusual to result in compensation. Kirk's working conditions were not extraordinarily unusual. Although she suffers from a mental illness and her situation at K-Mart was stressful, it cannot be said that her work caused her mental illness given her history of mental illness and the external stresses in her life. |
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