On Wednesday, the South Carolina Supreme Court published Clemmons v. Lowe’s Home Center.
Petitioner Clemmons appealed the Court of Appeals affirmation from the Workers’ Compensation Commission awarding Petitioner temporary permanent disability following the work injury to his neck and back. The Commission based the award on its’ finding that Petitioner had lost forty eight percent of the use of his back. Petitioner argued that the Commission’s finding and the Court of Appeals affirmation was in error because all of the medical evidence indicated that Petitioner had lost fifty percent or more of the use of his back and, therefore, entitling him to be awarded permanent partial disability.
This Court found that the Commission’s conclusion with respect to loss of use was unsupported by the substantial evidence in the record, noting that there is no evidence in the record that [Petitioner] suffered anything less than a fifty percent impairment to his back. Accordingly, the Court reversed the finding of the court of appeals and remanded the case to the Commission for a new hearing.
