Donald Crooks ("Claimant") was born on September 21, 1959. He is a muscular, righthanded gentleman approximately 5'4" to 5'6" tall and weighing 180 to 200 lbs.
All three "live" witnesses - Donald Crooks, Edward Dent, and Chad Chamberlain impressed me as being truthful, in spite of Employer-Insurer's counsel's repeated attempts to impeach both Claimant and Chamberlain on collateral issues. All three witnesses were clear and consistent in their testimony, and the testimony of each witness is consistent with that of the other two in all material respects, and consistent with the first report of injury filed with the Division of Workers' Compensation.
Employer is a retail butcher shop in Palmyra. In addition to the normal butcher shop business, Employer also processes deer during the deer hunting season. Employer has eight to ten employees on the premises most days, more during the deer season. Claimant began working for Employer on October 7, 2008. Claimant was hired as a laborer. Claimant would assist the meatcutters and would also assist customers. A significant portion of Claimant's work was lifting and carrying product.
Claimant alleges an injury to his left shoulder on December 9, 2008. This was during deer season. Claimant began work at 8:00 AM on that date, and alleges the accident occurred about 3:00 PM. Part of Claimant's work during deer season consisted of carrying the deer carcass from the customer's vehicle, skinning the deer and placing the skinned carcass in the cooler. The cooler was near the cutting room. After the deer were butchered, the processed deer meat would be stored in large tubs in the cooler. There would be several hundred pounds of deer meat in each of the large tubs. Another part of Claimant's job consisted of removing deer meat from the large tubs and placing it in a small tub or tote, weighing the tote on a scale, and then delivering it to one of the meat cutters, in the cutting room, for grinding. It was Claimant's job to get as close to 70 pounds of meat into each tote as possible. Claimant would fill the tote in the cooler, then lift the tote onto the scale for weighing. The scale was placed upon a table Claimant would be required to lift the tote and place it on the scale. This required Claimant (who stands no more than 5'6") to lift the tote shoulder height or higher to get the tote onto the scale.
Claimant was lifting one of the filled totes onto the scale at about 3:00 PM on December 9, 2008, when he felt something pop in his left shoulder and elbow. His left arm immediately became painful and numb. There was no one in the cooler who witnessed the alleged accident.
Claimant walked into the cutting room and informed meatcutter Chad Chamberlain what had happened. Claimant and Chamberlain both testified, that their mutual supervisor, Kevin Meyers, was working on the saw in the cutting room and overheard their conversation.
Claimant testified that his shoulder was extremely painful that night. Claimant and Chamberlain testified that after Claimant arrived at work on December 10, 2008, Claimant approached Chamberlain and showed him his left shoulder and bicep area, which was black, blue and purple. Claimant and Chamberlain testified that they then notified Kevin Meyers, who told Claimant to see Edward Dent, Employer's president. Dent met with Claimant. Dent testified that Claimant's shoulder and bicep area was black, blue and purple, and that Claimant's adjacent chest area and a portion of Claimant's abdomen were likewise discolored. Dent testified that he questioned Claimant as to how a work injury would have caused the bruising in the chest and abdomen area; nevertheless, Dent drove Claimant to the office of Dr. Robert Hevel in Palmyra. After Claimant saw Dr. Hevel, Dent returned to Dr. Hevel's office and drove Claimant back to Employer's place of business, where, as Dent testified, "we filled out the report (of injury)". (The handwritten version of the report of injury was entered into evidence as Employer's Exhibit 3.)
On the following day, December 11, 2008, Claimant was first seen by Dr. Richard Baumann of Midwest Orthopedics in Hannibal. Although Employer's counsel suggested in his cross-examination of Claimant that Claimant's seeing Dr. Baumann was not authorized by Employer or Insurer, that is clearly not the case. Dr. Baumann's records clearly show that Ed Dent authorized Dr. Baumann's initial care. Exhibit 3 (written by Edward Dent) states that Claimant was treating at "Midwest Orthopedics" in "Hannibal". A left shoulder MRI was performed the same day. It showed a complete rupture of the biceps tendon, a complete tear of the rotator cuff musculature, a large amount of fluid within the biceps tendon sheath, and extensive degenerative change in the left shoulder joint. The radiologist felt that the cuff tear was chronic. Dr. Baumann felt that an arthroscopic rotator cuff repair and biceps tendon repair surgery was needed. According to Dr. Baumann's records, precertification or approval of the surgery was sought with Cincinnati Insurance Co. and authorization was given by "Dave Took" on 12-16-08. Also per Dr. Baumann's records, the surgery was canceled by Insurer on 12-30-08, and Claimant was scheduled for an independent medical examination with another surgeon. Claimant saw Dr. Michael Milne, a St. Louis orthopedic surgeon, on January 12, 2009. Both Dr. Milne and Dr. Baumann testified by deposition, and their testimony is discussed below.
Claimant testified that he had no symptoms in his left shoulder prior to December 9, 2008, that he had good strength in his left upper extremity prior to December 9, 2008, and that he had no problem performing his job duties with Employer prior to December 9, 2008. Chamberlain testified that he observed Claimant's work on a daily basis, and that Claimant had no problems performing his job duties prior to December 9, 2008. Edward Dent testified that he felt that Claimant generally worked more slowly than other employees, but Dent agreed that Cl