In Buskuehl v Doe Run Co., 68 S.W.3d 535 (Mo.App.E.D. 2001), the issue of whether or not the percentage of permanent partial disability found in the distal part of an extremity (i.e., wrist) can be subtracted from additional disability further up in the extremity (the elbow) when computing total permanent partial disability in that extremity. It has been thought that the distal disability had to be subtracted from the proximal disability. This thought was rejected, the court saying the Commission has great discretion in calculating the disability, any deductions to be allowed on a case by case basis.
In Cartee v Sheraton Westport Inn, 34 S.W.3d 216 (Mo. App. E.D. 2000). Claimant filed a claim for a fall, admittedly had filed prior claims. Industrial Commission held that the claimant had 20% of the back, but none of it due to the primary injury which was only “transitory”. This was reversed, the Court specifically finding that their conclusion was unsupported by the facts, and was remanded to the Commission.
In Ransburg v Great Plains Drill, 22 S.W.3d 726 (Mo.App. W.D. 2000), four of the five experts who testified in regard to claimant’s disability found him to be only partially disabled. One of them later changed his testimony to total disability based solely on information provided about prior injuries that claimant had failed to disclose previously when asked and which were not evident in examinations by the experts. The Court of Appeals held that substantial evidence supported the finding of the ALJ that claimant had a 50% permanent partial disability.