Claimant, Eric Williamson, was born on May 12, 1971. He attended college for over four years, but left just short of a degree. Employer, Emery Sapp and Sons, Inc., is a general contractor that handles large commercial concrete and paving jobs. Claimant worked for Employer for a few summers while in high school and college. He also worked as a bouncer and doorman at a bar during college. He worked full-time for Sears, Roebuck \& Co. for two years before going to work as a full-time employee for Employer. Claimant started as a laborer, then was promoted to concrete finisher, and further promoted to foreman.
As stipulated, Claimant sustained an accident arising out of and in the course of his employment with Employer on April 7, 2003. The accident occurred as Claimant's crew was assisting another crew on a bridge job in extreme northeast Missouri. This was not a typical job for Claimant as his crew usually performed work on intersections and cul-de-sacs. Claimant fell approximately forty feet from the bridge to the large rocks below. Claimant had multiple injuries including a head injury. Claimant had loss of consciousness and seizure symptoms immediately after the accident. He was taken to a hospital in Keokuk, Iowa, where he was diagnosed with a skull fracture, subdural hematoma, right wrist fracture, left clavicle fracture, and multiple transverse process fractures of the spine. He was transferred to Blessing Hospital in Quincy, Illinois, where he underwent an emergency craniotomy. On April 10, 2003, Claimant was transferred to Boone Hospital Center in Columbia, and on April 17, 2003, he was transferred to Rusk Rehabilitation Center in Columbia.
On May 9, 2003, Claimant was discharged from Rusk. His discharge diagnoses were left epidural hematoma status-post evacuation, traumatic brain injury, cognitive deficits in memory, language and executive functioning, and anger management issues. He was also diagnosed with a left clavicle fracture and a right distal radius fracture. Claimant was to continue taking anticonvulsant medications and anti-anxiety medications. Claimant was to continue with occupational therapy, speech therapy and physical therapy.
In June 2003 there was an incident of Claimant becoming physically violent with his wife (now ex-wife). In September 2003, Claimant was re-admitted to Rusk Rehabilitation Center because of ongoing anger management issues. In December 2003, Claimant began working again for Employer on a part-time basis as a general laborer. Claimant's uncle, Pete Grathwohl, is part owner of Emery Sapp \& Sons, Inc. Grathwohl wanted Claimant to attempt a return to work and was willing to work with Claimant despite his shortcomings.
According to the testimony of Grathwohl and the testimony of Jeff Preston (who was Claimant's supervisor after Claimant's post-accident return to work), there were numerous complaints from multiple sources about Claimant's work. Those complaints included Claimant wandering away from the job site, leaving the job site at lunch time and forgetting where he was
supposed to be after lunch, failure to maintain equipment, abuse of equipment, frequent accidents with a company truck, damaging large sections of concrete (including curbs and gutters) as a backhoe operator, incomplete and/or faulty paperwork, and major safety violations. For approximately one year prior to his discharge by Employer in February 2008, Claimant worked as a concrete saw foreman. This job was simple and straightforward. Claimant was to make saw cuts in finished concrete, and he was to maintain his saw and sawblades. Claimant did not supervise any other employees in this position; in fact, Claimant was assigned a "helper", Drew Harrison, whose job was to keep Claimant focused and on task. Even with the assistance of Harrison, Claimant still had numerous problems on the job, coming in late or not at all, leaving saw blades on the job site, ruining a $\ 20,000 saw by running it without filters, making cuts too deep, making cuts in the wrong places, and others.
In early 2008, Claimant had "run out of rope" with Employer. Claimant had become a significant financial and safety liability for Employer. Grathwohl met with Claimant on February 1, 2008 and advised him that he was no longer employed. Later that month, Grathwohl met with Claimant and Dr. Jon Rupright, medical director of the Traumatic Brain Injury Rehabilitation Program at Rusk Rehabilitation Center. At this point, Claimant's wife had filed for dissolution of their marriage. Claimant, Grathwohl and Dr. Rupright discussed Claimant's marital problems and Claimant's on-the-job problems. According to Claimant's testimony, the meeting was "an eye-opener" for Dr. Rupright. According to the testimony of both Claimant and Grathwohl, Dr. Rupright advi