{
  "id": 8527802,
  "name": "KENNETH RAY SPARKS, Employee, Plaintiff v. MOUNTAIN BREEZE RESTAURANT AND FISH HOUSE, INC. and/or ANCLE GREENE, JEANE GREENE, CAROLYN GREENE McKINNEY and CLAUDE WAYNE McKINNEY d/b/a ANCLE GREENE RESTAURANT, Non-Insured, Defendants",
  "name_abbreviation": "Sparks v. Mountain Breeze Restaurant & Fish House, Inc.",
  "decision_date": "1982-02-02",
  "docket_number": "No. 8110IC483",
  "first_page": "663",
  "last_page": "665",
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    "id": 14983,
    "name": "North Carolina Court of Appeals"
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    "name_long": "North Carolina",
    "name": "N.C."
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      "reporter": "S.E.",
      "year": 1938,
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        8628926
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      "year": 1938,
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  "last_updated": "2023-07-14T17:04:47.759339+00:00",
  "provenance": {
    "date_added": "2019-08-29",
    "source": "Harvard",
    "batch": "2018"
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  "casebody": {
    "judges": [
      "Judges CLARK and BECTON concur."
    ],
    "parties": [
      "KENNETH RAY SPARKS, Employee, Plaintiff v. MOUNTAIN BREEZE RESTAURANT AND FISH HOUSE, INC. and/or ANCLE GREENE, JEANE GREENE, CAROLYN GREENE McKINNEY and CLAUDE WAYNE McKINNEY d/b/a ANCLE GREENE RESTAURANT, Non-Insured, Defendants"
    ],
    "opinions": [
      {
        "text": "WHICHARD, Judge.\nPlaintiff (claimant) was a cook in defendants\u2019 restaurant. His duties included carrying buckets of grease down steps. On 11 August 1979, while so engaged, plaintiff\u2019s foot \u201chit some grease on the steps and . . . jerked.\u201d He did not fall, but \u201c[i]t . . . gave [him] a quick jerk.\u201d At the time he \u201cfelt a pain like a bee sting in the lower part of [his] back for just a minute.\u201d He proceeded, though, to empty the bucket and to work the remainder of the day.\nOn 12 August 1980 plaintiff\u2019s pain was more severe. He consulted a physician on 13 August 1980. The physician\u2019s diagnosis was that plaintiff had suffered severe muscle strain, probably permanent in nature.\nThe Industrial Commission concluded that plaintiff sustained an \u201cinjury by accident arising out of and in the course of [his] employment,\u201d G.S. 97-2(6) (Supp. 1981), and awarded compensation. Defendants do not except to that award. They except, rather, to an award of $2,500 to plaintiff\u2019s attorney, pursuant to G.S. 97-88.1, based on a finding that they defended the claim without reasonable grounds. We hold that the evidence does not support the finding, and we accordingly vacate the portions of the opinion and award relating to payment of a fee to plaintiff\u2019s attorney.\nG.S. 97-88.1 provides: \u201cIf the Industrial Commission shall determine that any hearing has been . . . defended without reasonable ground, it may assess the whole cost of the proceedings including reasonable fees for . . . plaintiff\u2019s attorney upon the party who has . . . defended them.\u201d While the statute is of recent origin, and there are no cases interpreting or applying it, its evident purpose is to deter stubborn, unfounded litigiousness, which is inharmonious with \u201c[t]he primary consideration [of the Workers\u2019 Compensation Act, viz.,] . . . compensation for injured employees.\u201d Barbour v. State Hospital, 213 N.C. 515, 518, 196 S.E. 812, 814 (1938).\nWe do not, however, attribute to the General Assembly an intent to deter an employer with legitimate doubt regarding the employee\u2019s credibility, based on substantial evidence of conduct by the employee inconsistent with his alleged claim, from compelling the employee to sustain his burden of proof. Such deterrence would, in our view, emanate from application of the statute to the evidence here.\nThe pertinent facts relating to the credibility issue were these: There were no eyewitnesses to the alleged accident. Plaintiff did not advise defendants thereof on the date of the occurrence. He continued to work for the remainder of that day without telling his employers or fellow employees of his injury. He rode home with one of the employers that evening, and the employer could not recall his mentioning any pain or soreness in his back at that time. Two evenings later plaintiff called this employer, indicated that he was at the Dollar Store where \u201cthey had Bic pens on sale,\u201d and inquired whether the employer wanted him to purchase some for the restaurant. He also told the employer to have him picked up the next morning. None of the employers could recall any notification regarding the alleged accident until receipt of a letter from the Industrial Commission about 30 August 1980, some nineteen days later.\nThese facts provided ample basis for defending the claim on the ground of the credibility of plaintiffs assertions. The defense was not rendered unreasonable or unfounded by the Commission\u2019s declination to accept it. The test is not whether the defense prevails, but whether it is based in reason rather than in stubborn, unfounded litigiousness.\nThe evidence supported an award of compensation. There was, however, substantial evidence of conduct by plaintiff inconsistent with his alleged claim. Given this evidence, an award of compensation was not compelled; and defendants\u2019 concerns regarding plaintiffs credibility were not without reason. Under these circumstances we hold the evidence insufficient to support a finding that the claim was defended without reasonable grounds.\nThe opinion and award is vacated insofar as it relates to payment of a fee to plaintiffs attorney, and is otherwise affirmed.\nVacated in part, and affirmed.\nJudges CLARK and BECTON concur.\n. 1979 Sess. Laws, ch. 268.",
        "type": "majority",
        "author": "WHICHARD, Judge."
      }
    ],
    "attorneys": [
      "G. D. Bailey for plaintiff-appellee.",
      "Gum & Hillier, P.A., by David R. Hillier, for defendant-appellants."
    ],
    "corrections": "",
    "head_matter": "KENNETH RAY SPARKS, Employee, Plaintiff v. MOUNTAIN BREEZE RESTAURANT AND FISH HOUSE, INC. and/or ANCLE GREENE, JEANE GREENE, CAROLYN GREENE McKINNEY and CLAUDE WAYNE McKINNEY d/b/a ANCLE GREENE RESTAURANT, Non-Insured, Defendants\nNo. 8110IC483\n(Filed 2 February 1982)\nMaster and Servant \u00a7 99\u2014 workers\u2019 compensation \u2014 attorney fees \u2014defense of claim without reasonable grounds \u2014erroneous award\nThe evidence provided ample basis for defending a workers\u2019 compensation claim on the ground of the credibility of plaintiffs assertions and did not support an award of attorney fees to plaintiff pursuant to G.S. 97-88.1 based on a finding that the claim was defended without reasonable grounds where plaintiff testified that, while carrying a bucket of grease down the steps in defendant\u2019s restaurant, his foot hit some grease on the steps and his body jerked, he felt a pain like a bee sting in the lower part of his back for just a minute, his pain was more severe on the following day, he consulted a physician two days later, and the physician\u2019s diagnosis was that plaintiff had suffered severe muscle strain; there were no eye witnesses to the alleged accident; plaintiff continued to work for the remainder of that day without telling his employers or fellow employees of his injury; plaintiff rode home with one of the employers that evening and did not mention any pain or soreness in his back at that time; plaintiff talked by telephone with one employer two evenings later but did not mention the accident; and none of the employers were given any notification regarding the alleged accident until receipt of a letter from the Industrial Commission some 19 days after the accident allegedly occurred.\nAPPEAL by defendants from opinion and award of the North Carolina Industrial Commission, by Ben A. Rich, Deputy Commissioner (Commissioner Robert S. Brown concurring, Commissioner William H. Stephenson dissenting), filed 19 November 1980. Heard in the Court of Appeals 7 January 1982.\nG. D. Bailey for plaintiff-appellee.\nGum & Hillier, P.A., by David R. Hillier, for defendant-appellants."
  },
  "file_name": "0663-01",
  "first_page_order": 695,
  "last_page_order": 697
}