Coppley v. PPG Industries, Inc.

EAGLES, Chief Judge.

Here we consider whether the Commission misapplied the law by erroneously placing the initial burden on defendant to prove that plaintiff was capable of earning pre-injury wages in other employment without first requiring plaintiff to meet her initial burden of proving all three Hilliard “disability” factors. In worker’s compensation cases, plaintiff has the initial burden of proving that he suffers from a disability as a result of a work-related injury. Harrington v. Adams-Robinson Enterprises, 128 N.C. App. 496, 498, 495 S.E.2d 377, 379, rev’d on other grounds, 349 N.C.…