Carl Schwarzen ("Claimant") was born on August 29, 1943. Claimant lives in O'Fallon, MO and is the owner and president of MCS National, Inc. (hereinafter referred to as "MCS" or "Employer").
Claimant has run several businesses focused on construction or remodeling since the 1970's. Initially, these businesses were part-time or seasonal, and Claimant had other employment. Beginning in the early 1990's, Claimant concentrated on the construction and remodeling business.
Claimant started MCS in 2008. The business of MCS was arranging and supervising remodeling projects on hotel properties. The only client of MCS is John Q. Hammons hotel properties ("Hammons"). MCS has performed remodeling work for Hammons' properties in Branson, Missouri, Denver, Colorado, Norman, Oklahoma, Normal, Illinois, Peoria, Illinois, and Lincoln, Nebraska.
Claimant functioned as estimator, bidder, and superintendent on projects. He does not work on a time clock. When MCS is the successful bidder, MCS is paid by Hammons upon the completion of the project. MCS then pays all of the subcontractors, material costs, etc. If and when MCS makes a profit on a project, Claimant gets paid. Claimant reported income of $\ 73,286 from MCS on his 2015 taxes. At the time of the hearing, MCS had not filed its 2016 taxes, although Claimant testified that he would be reporting income of approximately \$33,000 from MCS on his 2016 taxes. Claimant testified that all of the income he personally received for 2016 was received prior to July 20, 2016. ${ }^{1}$
[^0]
[^0]: ${ }^{1}$ Claimant testified that the Lincoln, Nebraska project, to which he was traveling on July 20, 2013, did not make a profit.
On July 20, 2016, Claimant was involved in a motor vehicle accident on Interstate 70 in Callaway County, Missouri. That motor vehicle accident is the subject of this workers' compensation claim.
Prior to the July 20, 2016 motor vehicle accident, Claimant had several medical conditions. Claimant has had two surgeries on his low back, most recently in 2013. Claimant has a long history of bilateral knee problems; Claimant underwent a left total knee replacement in December 2015 and a right total knee replacement procedure had already been tentatively scheduled prior to July 20, 2016. Claimant had also been diagnosed with degenerative disc disease in his neck which was symptomatic. He had a history of cataracts. Claimant also had an accident in Minnesota in June 2016 when he hit a deer; Claimant complained of headaches thereafter. Despite these medical conditions, Claimant was able to successfully run MCS and was also able to engage in physical exercise regularly prior to July 20, 2016.
As noted above, Claimant underwent left total knee replacement surgery in December 2015. Claimant was informed by his knee surgeon that it would take six to twelve months to recover from the procedure. Claimant did not work for over six months. ${ }^{2}$ In July 2016, MCS was to perform a window replacement project on a Hammons' hotel property in Lincoln, Nebraska. This was Claimant's first project after the left knee replacement.
Claimant testified that he left his home in O'Fallon at approximately 6:00 AM and was driving west on Interstate 70, on his way to the job site. He was planning on meeting with engineers at the hotel later that day. He was driving a sedan, and he had with him a MCS check for a subcontractor on the job. Claimant was alone in the vehicle.
Claimant was approximately 15 to 20 miles from Columbia with his vehicle on cruise control at 68 mph . His vehicle was in the right hand lane when he looked up in the mirror, but there was an impact from behind. The impact was so hard Claimant could not tell it was a vehicle. Claimant testified that his right hand flew off the steering wheel; the vehicle went into a ditch, rolled a few times, and landed upside down. He heard a woman yelling, "Are you ok", and then Claimant received a phone call from his secretary, and he told her he had been in an accident. The paramedics were called, and they had to extricate Claimant from the vehicle.
The paramedics arrived within 15 to 20 minutes. The ambulance personnel had to open t