Supreme Court denies workers comp claim

Lacay Crew sued First Source Furniture Group, doing business as Anderson Hickey Company, in Lauderdale County Chancery Court in 2004. She won a $25,479 worker's compensation judgment and discretionary costs of $150 to cover the costs incurred when a physician completed a state disability form.

The judgment was overturned by the Special Workers' Compensation Appeals Panel. The panel's decision was appealed to the Supreme Court.

Crew had complained of swelling, tingling and pain in her hands in October 2001 while working at Anderson Hickey. She reported symptoms and sought medical help intermittently through 2004. She was diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome, underwent surgery and was diagnosed with a 5 percent permanent partial disability to her upper left hand with numbness of the ring finger on the left had.

While Crew believed the injury was the result of her work at Anderson-Hickey, the Supreme Court ruling said the evidence didn't pin the injury directly to her work there. Crew was permanently laid off from Anderson-Hickey on Jan. 28, 2002. She moved on to a job at a Slim Fast plant and, in January 2003, started working at Paslode.

Medical tests did not confirm Crew's carpal tunnel until Sept. 3, 2003.

The Supreme Court opinion said Crew failed to prove that her work at Anderson Hickey - rather than her subsequent jobs - caused the carpal tunnel syndrome. The court remanded the case to the Lauderdale County Chancery Court with instructions to dismiss the complaint.