Lambdin v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.
Annotate this CaseEmployee worked for Employer for thirty-seven years. After his retirement, Employee sought workers’ compensation benefits based upon hearing loss he sustained, especially at frequency levels of sound above 3000 hertz. At issue during trial was the applicability of the American Medical Association’s Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment (AMA Guides) to Employee’s hearing loss. The AMA Guides provide an impairment rating formula for hearing loss only up to 3000 hertz but do not rate the level of impairment for hearing losses over 3000 hertz. The trial court awarded a thirty percent vocational disability, not only for the anatomical impairment between 2000 and 3000 hertz but also for the impairment between 3000 and 4000 hertz. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) although the AMA Guides do not address the effect of hearing loss at levels higher than 3000 hertz, there was evidentiary support for the trial court’s determination that expert testimony established an “appropriate” method for rating the impairment in a manner “used and accepted by the medical community”; and (2) the evidence clearly established a hearing impairment above 3000 hertz.
Court Description: Authoring Judge: Justice Gary R. Wade
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.