Workers’ Compensation Causation – Credibility – Neck Pain – Medical Testimony

Clark v. Pepsi Bottling Ventures (Lawyers Weekly No. 12-16-0279, 10 pp.) (Cheri Beasley, J.) Appealed from the Industrial Commission. N.C. App. Unpub. Full-text opinion.

Holding: Plaintiff told his supervisor he was not injured on the job, and plaintiff was not consistent about the date of the onset of his neck pain. There is competent evidence to support the Industrial Commission’s finding that plaintiff’s assertion that he sustained an on-the-job injury is not credible.

We affirm the Commission’s denial of benefits.

Dr. Kenneth Price’s opinion concerning how plaintiff was injured was based solely on plaintiff’s information which the Commission found was not credible and therefore unreliable. Following Young v. Hickory Bus. Furn., 353 N.C. 227, 538 S.E.2d 912 (2000), the Commission had the authority to find that Dr. Price’s testimony concerning the cause of plaintiff’s injury was purely speculative and to give no weight to his testimony concerning the cause of plaintiff’s injury.