Young v. Hickory Bus. Furniture

In Young v. Hickory Bus. Furniture, 353 N.C. 227, 230, 538 S.E.2d 912, 915 (2000), the Industrial Commission found that a claimant's fibromyalgia had been caused by an accident at work based solely on the opinion testimony of Dr. Payne, who stated that "I think that the claimant does have fibromyalgia and I relate it to the accident primarily because, as I noted, it was not there before and she developed it afterwards. And that's the only piece of information that relates the two." Young, 353 N.C. at 232, 538 S.E.2d at 916. The instant case is distinguishable from Young in two ways: (1) the evidence that Plaintiff's intention tremor may have been caused by the second surgery is greater than merely "post hoc ergo propter hoc," as Defendant contends, Id. at 232, 538 S.E.2d at 916; and more pertinently; (2) the Full Commission did not find that the tremor was caused by the second surgery but specifically and unequivocally stated that an expert should "determine whether the tremor was related to his compensable condition or whether treatment would help it."