Cypress v. City of Charleston

THIS OPINION HAS NO PRECEDENTIAL VALUE.  IT SHOULD NOT BE CITED OR
RELIED ON AS PRECEDENT IN ANY PROCEEDING EXCEPT AS PROVIDED BY RULE 268(d)(2),
SCACR.

THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA

In The Court of Appeals

Jerry Cypress, Appellant,

v.

City of Charleston, Respondent.

Appeal From Richland County

Appellate Panel, Workers Compensation
Commission

Unpublished Opinion No. 2011-UP-366  

Submitted April 1, 2011 – Filed July 12,
2011

APPEAL DISMISSED

Rhonda R.
Jennings, of Charleston and Stephen B. Samuels, of Columbia, for Appellant.

Johnnie W.
Baxley, III, of Mount Pleasant, for Respondent.

PER
CURIAM: Jerry
Cypress (Cypress) appeals the Workers' Compensation Commission Appellate
Panel's (Appellate Panel) decision to reverse and remand the Workers'
Compensation Single Commissioner's (Single Commissioner) order.  Specifically,
Cypress argues the Appellate Panel erred in (1) finding he failed to prove by a
preponderance of the evidence that his depression was causally related to his
heat exhaustion incident on August 4, 2007; (2) reversing the Single
Commissioner's award that his claim was compensable as a scheduled member
pursuant to section 42-9-30 of the South Carolina Code (Supp. 2010); and (3) remanding
the issue of whether Cypress sustained wage loss under section 42-9-20 of the
South Carolina Code (Supp. 2010).  We dismiss the appeal.[1]

Cypress,
a firefighter with the City of Charleston, collapsed after suffering from heat
exhaustion during a training exercise on August 4, 2007.  Cypress subsequently
filed a Form 50.  The Single Commissioner found Cypress suffered a "14%
permanent partial disability of the whole person" and awarded him workers'
compensation benefits pursuant to section 42-9-30.  The Appellate Panel
reversed and remanded the order of the Single Commissioner.  The Appellate
Panel held a "whole person" disability is not an enumerated scheduled
member under section 42-9-30, and as a result, the Single Commissioner's order
was affected by an error of law.  The Appellate Panel remanded the issue of
whether Cypress sustained wage loss under section 42-9-20 to the Single
Commissioner. 

Because
the Appellate Panel reversed and remanded the Single Commissioner's order for
further proceedings on the merits, we dismiss this appeal as not immediately
appealable.  Long v. Sealed Air Corp., 391 S.C. 483, 487, 706 S.E.2d 34,
36 (Ct. App. 2011) (holding circuit court's order which remanded a workers'
compensation order to the Appellate Panel for further proceedings was not
immediately appealable).  However, the order may be appealed after final
judgment.

APPEAL
DISMISSED.

WILLIAMS,
GEATHERS, and LOCKEMY, JJ., concur.

[1] We decide this case without oral argument pursuant to
Rule 215, SCACR.