National Linen Service v. Stubblefield

The employer/carrier appeal the Deputy Commissioner’s award of permanent partial disability based on 15% disability when the highest rating given by a physician was 5%. We agree that the disability rating was erroneous and reverse. Compensability is not an issue on appeal.

The claimant was involved in an accident on December 16, 1978, while driving his employer’s truck, but he did not remember hitting anything inside the cab and received no emergency medical treatment. The next day he saw a doctor for complaints of pain, but there was no objective evidence of physical injury. The claimant went…