A.E.R.T., Inc. v. Estrada

2016 Ark. App. 604, 508 S.W.3d 906, 2016 Ark. App. LEXIS 632
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arkansas
DecidedDecember 14, 2016
DocketCV-16-608
StatusPublished

This text of 2016 Ark. App. 604 (A.E.R.T., Inc. v. Estrada) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
A.E.R.T., Inc. v. Estrada, 2016 Ark. App. 604, 508 S.W.3d 906, 2016 Ark. App. LEXIS 632 (Ark. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

BRANDON J. HARRISON, Judge

hln 2012, Maria Estrada claimed she suffered a gradual-onset back injury while working for AERT, Inc. The Arkansas Workers’ Compensation Commission denied her claim, reasoning that the statute of limitations had run on her claim. We reversed the Commission’s statute-of-limitations decision and remanded the case in November 2014. Estrada v. Aert, Inc., 2014 Ark. App. 652, 449 S.W.3d 327. The Commission, in turn, remanded Estrada’s claim to an administrative law judge to “adjudicate the case in accordance with the instructions from the Court of Appeals.”

The case was not reopened for new evidence, so the law judge decided it based on the same evidentiary record the parties had developed. On remand, the law judge decided that Estrada had failed to prove that she suffered a gradual-onset low back-injury around 1 February 2012, because she had “failed to provide medical evidence in the form of 1 {¡objective medical findings to support her claim.” The law judge reasoned that no medical records indicated that Estrada’s issues were work related and that no objective medical findings connected her low-back pain and the need for surgery to her work.

The Commission reversed the law judge’s decision and held that Estrada had “established a compensable injury supported by objective findings, namely, the spasm shown in the December 2011 MRI and the disc bulge shown in the August 2012 CT.” The Commission found that these objective findings were causally related to the compensable injury and not caused by a prior injury or preexisting condition. The Commission made AERT responsible for benefits from 28 September 2012 forward. AERT appealed the Commission’s decision. Estrada cross-appealed.

I. AERT’s Appeal

AERT argues that the Commission viewed the evidence for Estrada instead of weighing the documentary and testimonial evidence impartially. As AERT correctly notes, “[t]he injured party bears the burden of proof in establishing entitlement to benefits under the Workers’ Compensation Act and must sustain that burden by a preponderance of the evidence.” Hughes Sch. Dist. v. Bain, 2010 Ark. App. 204, at 4, 374 S.W.3d 173, 176. But we disagree that there is a burden-of-proof error. Here are the Commission’s own words:

In the present matter, the Full Commission finds that the claimant proved by a preponderance of the evidence that she sustained a compensable injury. The claimant became employed with the respondents in 2005 and her work was labor-intensive. The claimant’s work duties for the respondent employer included lifting and stacking wood, 12 hours per shift. The claimant began seeking medical treatment for back pain in December 2009. The treating physician noted at that time that the claimant was suffering from pain as a result of “standing all day.” The record does not indicate that the claimant’s back pain resulted from any condition other than the claimant’s work for the respondents.
|sThe claimant began treating with Dr. Sewell for back pain in 2011. Dr. Sewell returned the claimant to work, “No bending, twisting, or stacking.” The record therefore indicates that Dr. Sewell connected the claimant’s back pain to her work for the respondents.

The Commission specifically recited that Estrada had met her burden of proof, and it correctly identified the burden. Regarding the Commission’s statement that “[t]he record does not indicate that the claimant’s back pain resulted from any condition other than the claimant’s work for the respondents,” that is a causation-related conclusion that it made based on all the evidence before it.

AERT claims that the Commission “manufactui’ed a medical opinion concerning causation” and relied on two statements in Estrada’s medical records that “simply do not exist.” AERT rightly observes that the Commission wrongly cited to a 2009 report from Dr. Lawrence Sche-mel. But the oversight is immaterial on the whole. The Commission’s opinion (that we also quoted above) states,

The claimant began seeking medical treatment for back pain in December 2009. The treating physician noted at that time that the claimant was suffering from pain as a result of “standing all day.”

The quote “standing all day” came from a Dr. Schemel medical record dated 1 March 2010. There, the doctor noted that Estrada had “some leg pain when [she] is standing all day,” and he recommended that she “use support stocking for legs when working,” A separate December 2009 report from Dr. Schemel stated that Estrada “has some low back pain—this is bothering her nearly every day and she has been taking ibuprofen for this.” Given these two statements, we disagree that the Commission “manufactured” medical evidence. True, Dr. Schemel did not technically state his observation about Estrada’s pain and her standing [4all day “at the time” Estrada first started treatment. But the substance of Dr. Schemel’s statements overall was not misrepresented by the Commission. Though more precision is preferred, the mistaken reference is not legally significant in this case.

AERT also challenges another Commission statement: “The claimant began treating with Dr. Sewell for back pain in 2011. Dr. Sewell returned the claimant to work, ‘No bending, twisting, or stacking.’ The record therefore indicates that Dr. Sewell connected the claimant’s back pain to her work for the respondents.” AERT believes the Commission made this information up, too. Let’s put the Commission’s words to the test.

The work release signed by Dr. Sewell (dated 11 June 2012) includes the words “twisting or stacking.” Dr. Sewell did not, however, give any express medical opinion on whether Estrada’s back pain was work related. In fact, AERT is correct that the record contained no medical opinions specifically stating that Estrada’s back injury was caused by her work. AERT also claims that Estrada never made a causal link between her employment and back condition to any of her doctors until she filed a claim several months after her back surgery. It points to medical records where Estrada could have, but did not, indicate to her doctors that her back problems were work related. For example, on an injury form Estrada filled out on 2 February 2012, she marked “no” when asked if her condition related to an injury. A record from a June 2012 visit to Dr. Sewell indicated that Estrada had not stated the “setting in which [her symptoms] first occurred.” AERT believes this silence speaks against her. Here the Commission found:

In the present matter, the Full Commission finds that the claimant proved by a preponderance of the evidence that she sustained a compensable injury. The claimant became employed with the respondents in 2005 and her work was labor-intensive. The claimant’s work duties for the respondent-] ^employer included lifting and stacking wood, 12 hours per shift.... The record does not indicate that [Estrada’s] back pain resulted from any condition other than [her] work for [AERT].
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The Full Commission recognizes that, when the claimant presented for treatment with Dr.

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Related

Freeman v. Con-Agra Frozen Foods
40 S.W.3d 760 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 2001)
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. VanWagner
990 S.W.2d 522 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1999)
Estrada v. AERT, Inc.
2014 Ark. App. 652 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2014)
Hughes School District v. Bain
374 S.W.3d 173 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2010)
Wise v. Village Inn
2015 Ark. App. 406 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2015)
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Leach
48 S.W.3d 540 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2001)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2016 Ark. App. 604, 508 S.W.3d 906, 2016 Ark. App. LEXIS 632, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/aert-inc-v-estrada-arkctapp-2016.