The Freibott Law Firm was recently successful in prosecuting a claim on behalf of one of its clients in the case of Watson v. Allen Harim Family Foods. Our client has worked in the deboning department for this employer and she developed cubital tunnel syndrome in her left elbow. She had no prior problems in her left elbow prior to her working at Allen Foods. There are several stations in the deboning department. One station is cutting wings, which entails reaching out and grabbing the wing as it comes by on the conveyor, cutting the wing with the right hand, and throwing it to the middle of the line with the left hand. The line is located about 18 inches in front of her. The conveyor moves at a speed of between 37-42 birds per minute. After an hour in the cutting wings section, employees are rotated. Another station is pulling tenders, which entails pulling tenders off the body and throwing them onto the conveyor belt. She also has to pick up scraps that are still on the conveyor belt from trimmings and put the scraps in a box to her right. Another station is cutting tenders, which entails reaching out in front of her to cut an “X” with the right hand through the tender and pull off a bit with both hands, but not pull it off all of the way. A fourth station is clipping, which entails clipping with scissors any bird coming by on the conveyor. Our client uses the scissors in the right hand and pulls off the tenders with the left hand. Our client underwent right carpal tunnel surgery in July of 2015 and left carpal tunnel surgery in October of 2015. On March 28, 2016, while cutting wings, our client felt pain her left arm and sought treatment with an orthopaedic surgeon, Dr. Schwartz. Dr. Schwartz, our client’s expert, testified that the cubital tunnel in the left arm was causally related to her repetitive activities at Allen Foods. The Defense medical expert, Dr. Evan Crain, of First State Orthopaedics, provided an opinion at the Industrial Accident Board thatour client’s condition was not related to her repetitive activities at work. The Industrial Accident Board found the opinion of Dr. Schwartz to be more persuasive than that of Dr. Crain, given the facts of the case. Accordingly, the Industrial Accident Board found that our client’s left cubital tunnel syndrome was causally related to the work activities at Allen Foods. The Industrial Accident Board found that our client’s period of total disability, from May 27, 2016 through July 13, 2016, was reasonable and related to her work activities at Allen Foods. The Industrial Accident Board also found that our client’s medical expenses for her condition were also reasonable, necessary, and related to her work activities at Allen Foods. Lastly, the Industrial Accident Board ordered Allen Foods to pay an attorney’s fee for our successful presentation of the case and to reimburse our firm for the medical expert fee of Dr. Schwartz. (Vivian Watson v. Allen Harim Family Foods.,Hearing No.: 1444331 and 1427290Date of Decision: March 9, 2017)
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