Paul R. Cook v. The Home Depot
Annotate this Case
Download PDF
IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI
NO. 2009-WC-01551-COA
PAUL R. COOK
APPELLANT
v.
THE HOME DEPOT AND AMERICAN HOME
ASSURANCE COMPANY
DATE OF JUDGMENT:
TRIAL JUDGE:
COURT FROM WHICH APPEALED:
ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT:
ATTORNEY FOR APPELLEES:
NATURE OF THE CASE:
TRIAL COURT DISPOSITION:
DISPOSITION:
MOTION FOR REHEARING FILED:
MANDATE ISSUED:
APPELLEES
08/20/2009
HON. SAMAC S. RICHARDSON
RANKIN COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT
JOHN HUBERT ANDERSON
P. SHARKEY BURKE JR.
CIVIL - WORKERS’ COMPENSATION
AFFIRMED MISSISSIPPI WORKERS’
COMPENSATION COMMISSION’S
DISMISSAL OF CLAIM AS BARRED BY
THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS
AFFIRMED - 01/11/2011
BEFORE MYERS, P.J., ISHEE AND ROBERTS, JJ.
ROBERTS, J., FOR THE COURT:
¶1.
Paul Cook claimed he was entitled to workers’ compensation benefits as a result of
a back injury he sustained while moving cast-iron tubs for his employer, The Home Depot.
Cook filed a petition to controvert with the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission
(Commission) and received compensation from Home Depot for his injury. He then filed a
motion to review the cessation of his benefits alleging further medical treatment was
necessary for his injury. An administrative judge (AJ) dismissed Cook’s claim for failing to
file a completed prehearing statement. The dismissal order became final on December 26,
2006, at which point the one-year statute of limitations commenced to run. Throughout
2007, Cook failed to properly file a petition for his claim to be reinstated. In June 2008,
Cook petitioned to reinstate the claim. The AJ found that the one-year statute of limitations
barred the claim and denied his petition to reinstate his claim. After being properly
petitioned, the full Commission affirmed the AJ’s order denying Cook’s petition. This
decision was then affirmed on appeal by the Rankin County Circuit Court. Cook now
appeals on the basis that the actions taken during the one-year period were sufficient to toll
the statute of limitations and that his claim should not be barred. Finding no error, we affirm.
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
¶2.
On August 6, 2004, Cook filed his petition to controvert with the Commission alleging
a back injury he had sustained while moving cast-iron bathtubs at The Home Depot, his place
of employment. The Home Depot filed a B-31 Final Notice form with the Commission on
August 6, 2004, providing Cook disability payments in the amount of $7,153.72.
¶3.
Cook filed a motion to review the cessation of his benefits and payment of his medical
bills on April 29, 2005, alleging further medical treatment was necessary. The Home Depot
disputed Cook’s need for further treatment in its response to Cook’s motion, and on June 30,
2005, the AJ ordered an independent medical examination with The Home Depot to pay the
costs associated with the examination.
¶4.
On July 27, 2006, the AJ dismissed Cook’s claim for failure to file a completed
prehearing statement pursuant to Commission Procedural Rule 5. Cook filed a petition to
reinstate his claim and a prehearing statement, which the AJ denied on December 6, 2006,
2
due to an improperly completed prehearing statement. Cook filed an amended prehearing
statement on December 13, 2006, and also on January 8, 2007.
¶5.
In June 2008, Cook’s attorney sent a letter to the Commission alleging that he had
personally delivered a second amended petition to reinstate, which was attached to a
prehearing statement, to them on July 21, 2007. Cook’s file with the Commission did not
originally contain either of these documents. His file was updated with these documents
dated July 21, 2007, but they only bore the official stamp date of June 17, 2008, the day the
Commission received them.
¶6.
The AJ dismissed Cook’s claim because the one-year statute of limitations under
Mississippi Code Annotated section 71-3-53 (Rev. 2000) ran from December 26, 2006, to
December 26, 2007, and was not tolled by any action or filing. Cook filed an appeal with
the full Commission. The full Commission affirmed the AJ’s decision to dismiss Cook’s
claim. The Rankin County Circuit Court affirmed the dismissal of Cook’s claim as barred
by the statue of limitations. Cook now appeals the dismissal raising the issue of whether the
Commission erred in determining that his actions during the one-year period were
insufficient to toll the statute of limitations.
STANDARD OF REVIEW
¶7.
We defer to the Commission’s decision and reverse only when the Commission’s
decision is not supported by substantial evidence. Levy v. Miss. Uniforms, 909 So. 2d 1260,
1263-64 (¶11) (Miss. Ct. App. 2005). However, a de novo review is conducted when
reviewing questions of law, including a statute-of-limitations issue. James v. Bowater
Newsprint, 983 So. 2d 355, 358 (¶11) (Miss. Ct. App. 2008).
3
DISCUSSION
¶8.
Cook argues that the Commission erred in dismissing his claim because his filing of
his notices of depositions, submitting an amended prehearing statement, and allegedly filing
a petition to reinstate during the one-year statute-of-limitations period were sufficient to toll
the statute of limitations. Cook primarily relies on two Mississippi Supreme Court decisions:
Harper v. North Mississippi Medical Center, 601 So. 2d 395 (Miss. 1992), and ABC
Manufacturing Corp. v. Doyle, 749 So. 2d 43 (Miss. 1999), to illustrate that action taken,
besides filing a petition to reinstate, during the one-year period may be sufficient to toll the
statute of limitations.
¶9.
We begin our analysis of this issue by discussing the relevant statutes. When a claim
is dismissed, the dismissal does not become final until twenty days after the order to dismiss
is entered. Miss. Code Ann. § 71-3-47 (Rev. 2000). The claimant may request review of his
claim’s dismissal during the twenty-day period. Id. After the order becomes final, the
Commission has continuing jurisdiction pursuant to Mississippi Code Annotated section 713-53. The statute, in pertinent part, states:
[T]he [C]ommission may, at any time prior to one (1) year after the date of the
last payment of compensation, whether or not a compensation order has been
issued, or at any time prior to one (1) year after the rejection of a claim, review
a compensation case, issue a new compensation order which may terminate,
continue, reinstate, increase, or decrease such compensation, or award
compensation.
Miss. Code Ann. § 71-3-53. This gives the claimant one year from the date of the last
payment or from the date of the AJ’s final order to seek review of his claim. After the one-
4
year period, any further review of the claim is barred by the statute of limitations.
¶10.
For the purposes of Cook’s claim, the AJ dismissed his claim on December 6, 2006.
Cook then had twenty days within which to petition for review before the dismissal was final.
Cook failed to petition for review; instead, he submitted an amended pretrial statement. This
action was not a sufficient alternative to a petition for review, so the AJ’s order became final
on December 26, 2006, and the one-year statute-of-limitations period commenced to run.
The one-year period ended on December 26, 2007. During this period, Cook did submit
several notices of depositions and amended prehearing statements, but he did not petition to
have his claim reinstated.
¶11.
Cook’s attorney alleged that he had personally hand delivered a petition to reinstate,
a prehearing statement, and a notice of deposition to the Commission on July 21, 2007.
However, these documents were not in Cook’s file with the Commission when Cook’s
attorney reviewed the file in June 2008. Cook’s attorney could only produce the documents
dated July 21, 2007, without a stamp date indicating that they were received by the
Commission at that time. The Court gives great deference to the fact-finding duty of the
Commission and will not disturb its decision if there is substantial evidence in the record to
support the findings. Harper, 601 So. 2d at 397. We find that there is substantial evidence
in the record to support the Commission’s decision that the statute of limitations was not
tolled by Cook’s alleged filing of a petition to reinstate on July, 21, 2007, when no such
filing appears in the record with the Commission.
¶12.
Cook further argues that filing several notices of depositions and prehearing
5
statements are sufficient to toll the statute of limitations. As stated above, he relies primarily
on two cases, Harper and ABC Manufacturing Corp., to support his argument that actions
outside of filing a petition to reinstate may be sufficient to toll the statute of limitations. In
Harper, the Mississippi Supreme Court held that Margaret Harper’s complaint letter to the
Commission during the one-year period was sufficient to toll the statute of limitations.
Harper, 601 So. 2d at 397. In ABC Manufacturing Corp., the supreme court held that
Martha Jane Doyle’s new attorney’s petition for acceptance of representation, entry of
appearance, and a copy of the previously filed notice of controversy filed during the one-year
period was sufficient to toll the statute of limitations. ABC Mfg. Corp., 749 So. 2d at 47
(¶17). In both cases, the supreme court allowed documents other than a petition to reinstate
to toll the statute of limitations. In Harper, the supreme court held that the alternative
documents were acceptable in the place of a petition to reinstate because the “[l]etter
sufficiently articulates the nature of her claim and . . . clearly expresses an intent to pursue
whatever remedies might be available to her.” Harper, 601 So. 2d at 397. In the case before
us, Cook’s notices of depositions and amended prehearing statements were not sufficient to
toll the statute of limitations because they do not provide the same level of information and
notice that the supreme court found in the documents provided in Harper and ABC
Manufacturing Corp.
¶13.
In a factually similar case to the current case, Garcia v. Super Sagless Corp., 975 So.
2d 267, 268 (¶3) (Miss. Ct. App. 2008), this Court affirmed the denial of a petition to
6
reinstate after the statute-of-limitations period had expired. In Garcia, the AJ dismissed the
claim for failure to attach the required prehearing statement. After the dismissal became
final, Justino Garcia continued to depose others and negotiate a settlement agreement with
the employer and carrier. Id. at (¶¶3-4). After the one-year period had expired, Garcia
attempted to reinstate his claim by filing a petition to reinstate. Id at (¶5). The AJ denied
Garcia’s petition to reinstate because it was barred by the one-year statute of limitations. Id.
at (¶5). On appeal to this Court, we affirmed the Commission’s decision to deny the petition
to reinstate. Id. at 268-69 (¶6). In the present case, Cook’s actions of filing notices of
depositions and amended prehearing statements during the one-year period more closely
resemble the actions taken in Garcia and not those in Harper and ABC Manufacturing Corp.
¶14.
Because we find that Cook’s failed to timely file a petition to reinstate with the
Commission and that the actions taken during the statute-of-limitations period were
insufficient to toll the one-year period, we affirm the judgment of the Circuit Court of Rankin
County which affirmed the Commission’s decision.
¶15. THE JUDGMENT OF THE CIRCUIT COURT OF RANKIN COUNTY IS
AFFIRMED.
ALL COSTS OF THE APPEAL ARE ASSESSED TO THE
APPELLANT.
KING, C.J., LEE AND MYERS, P.JJ., IRVING, GRIFFIS, BARNES, ISHEE,
CARLTON AND MAXWELL, JJ., CONCUR.
7
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.