Oliver v. Guardsmark, Inc.

I bebeve that Bobbie Oliver suffered an aggravation of his preexisting condition of the “tendency towards obesity” and would reverse the Commission’s denial of benefits on this point.

It is undisputed that Oliver had never been able to control his weight prior to his stomach-stapling procedure, and that he had reduced his weight after the surgery from approximately 310 pounds to 175 pounds with the additional help of a walking regimen prior to his 1989 compensable back injury. This fact distinguishes his case from those in which benefits were denied because the claimant’s obesity was deemed…