Holmes v. Gold Kist, Inc.

This is a worker's compensation case.

Billy J. Holmes began working for Gold Kist, Inc., in its poultry processing plant in 1986. During most of his employment there, he worked as a grader, lifting chickens from a conveyor belt at waist level and hanging them on a grading line about two feet in front of him. He was required to do this 26 to 30 times per minute. Holmes testified that hanging the birds often required him to bend at the waist and lean forward.

Holmes began to suffer some back pain in 1988. He received medical treatment, and his condition improved. In July 1989, when he had a…