TRACY COUSINS, Plaintiff,
v.
HUGHES BROTHERS, INC., Defendant.
No. 1078
DOC 204
Nebraska Workers Compensation
September 6, 2007
Timothy S. Dowd , Attorney at Law
Julie
A. Martin, Attorney at Law
ORDER OF AFFIRMANCE ON REVIEW
BACKGROUND
Beginning
in 1996 the plaintiff was employed by the defendant. During
the course and scope of her employment, the plaintiff was
exposed to various chemicals. In February 2004 the
plaintiff’s chest began getting tighter and tighter (E1, p.
1). The defendant accommodated the plaintiff and the
plaintiff remained at work until August 4, 2004, when she
stopped work.
The
plaintiff has been treated by numerous physicians. Dr.
Barbara Froehner states the plaintiff has reactive lung
disease due to or at least aggravated by her work situation
and chemicals that she was exposed to at work (E13).
Dr.
John Rudersdorf states that plaintiff’s occupational lung
disease was exacerbated by plaintiff’s occupational exposure
while employed by the defendant (E16, p. 2).
Dr.
Suzanne Von Essen testifies that "it is more probable
than not that work exposures caused the airway
hyper-responsiveness demonstrated by the positive
methacholine challenge test." (E22, p. 1). This airway
hyper-responsiveness is consistent with an asthmatic
reaction.
Michelle
Hultine was appointed vocational rehabilitation counselor to
prepare a loss of earning power report and make
recommendations on vocational rehabilitation services. Ms.
Hultine was given a medical report from Dr. John Rudersdorf
dated August 16, 2004, which states that "Tracy would
spend 5-10% of the year having episodes of exacerbations of
various asthma and bronchietic episodes with some slight
exposures to these allergens throughout her work environment,
whatever job she would perform." (E16, p. 1). The
plaintiff is to avoid concentrated exposures to extreme cold,
extreme hot, and perfumes. She needs to avoid moderate
exposure to fumes, odors, dust, gases, cigarette smoke,
smoldering fluxes, solvents/cleaners, and chemicals.
Ms. Hultine also had a report from Dr. Barbara Froehner
which states that the plaintiff will no longer be able to
work where she has exposure to not only these chemicals, but
also the other chemical irritants. Ms. Hultine prepared...
