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Case Law Alert
The South Carolina Supreme Court has just issued a decision that significantly changes the award of benefits in single scheduled member cases. In Ellison v. Frigidaire Home Products, S.Ct. Op. # 26227 (filed 11/20/06), the Court considered the impact of S.C. Code Ann. Section 42-9-400, the Second Injury Fund provision that allows for SIF reimbursement where a claimant’s pre-existing personal health conditions, such as diabetes, heart disease or such, combine with an on the job accident to result in greater disability than would have occurred from the injury itself. The Court held, based upon this provision, that a claimant is not limited to scheduled member recovery, even if the workplace injury only affects one body part, if the injury in combination with any pre-existing condition hinders reemployment. The Court stated ”There is no requirement that the pre-existing condition aggravated the injury, or that the injury aggravated the pre-existing condition, so long as there is a greater disability simply from the ‘combined effects’ of the injury and the pre-existing condition.”
In Ellison, the Court held that a claimant with a leg injury which was given a 20% impairment rating could be awarded permanent and total disability, where the effects of the work place injury combined with his pre-existing health problems (hypertension, sleep apnea, prostate cancer, diabetes and congestive cardiac disease) that were not causally related in any way to his workplace injury, where the combination rendered the claimant incapable of employment. Therefore, until S.C. Code Section 42-9-400 is revised, amended or repealed, the scheduled member limitations established in Singleton v. Young Lumber Co., 236 S.C. 454, 1141 S.E.2d 837 (1960) and reaffirmed in Wigfall v. Tideland Utilities, 354 S.C. 100, 580 S.E.2d 100 (2003) do not apply if a claimant has pre-existing, unrelated, debilitating personal health problems.
