Ball v. Wynne Public Schools

2014 Ark. App. 313, 436 S.W.3d 158, 2014 Ark. App. LEXIS 406
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arkansas
DecidedMay 14, 2014
DocketCV-13-1019
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 2014 Ark. App. 313 (Ball v. Wynne Public Schools) 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
Ball v. Wynne Public Schools, 2014 Ark. App. 313, 436 S.W.3d 158, 2014 Ark. App. LEXIS 406 (Ark. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

WAYMOND M. BROWN, Judge.

1 TAppellant appeals from the Arkansas Workers’ Compensation Commission’s (Commission) reversal of the administrative law judge’s (ALJ) grant of temporary-total-disability (TTD) benefits to appellant on finding that appellant failed to prove that she is entitled to additional TTD benefits after April 23, 2012. 1 Appellant’s sole point on appeal is that the Commission erred in finding that she was not entitled to additional TTD benefits for the period from July 11, 2012, through February 1, 2013. We affirm.

The pertinent facts in this case are as follows, as ascertained from testimony and exhibits submitted below. Appellant, ap-pellee’s employee, was a passenger in a vehicle on a work-related trip when she sustained a compensable injury on February 7, 2012. She was transported to the Med Regional Medical Center in Memphis, Tennessee, on the day of the accident. A CT scan, which she initially refused, revealed no acute findings. The |«,CT scan showed that appellant had sustained a “small laceration and hematoma superficial to the left orbit[;]” a hematoma in the pelvic area, believed to have resulted from appellant’s seatbelt; degenerative changes in the bilateral glenohumeral joint; and findings of acute sinusitis. After receiving stitches for the small laceration, appellant was released on the same day. She testified that she experienced a seizure, “the first one [she’d] ever had,” that night at her home. She did not go to the emergency room despite being in the first trimester of a high-risk pregnancy. 2

Appellant filed a notice of injury with the Commission on February 8, 2012, listing injuries to her left eye, abdomen, left chest and arm, and right leg; she did not include that she had suffered a seizure. A workers’ compensation authorization for medical care was executed on the same date by Kim Davis citing injuries to the left eye and “bruising [to the] left chest area/arm, [and] right leg.” 3 Dr. James Cathey was listed as appellant’s doctor. Appellant’s obstetrician, Dr. Cem Sarino-glu, excused appellant from work from February 8, 2012, through February 14, 2012.

On February 10, 2012, Dr. Cathey diagnosed appellant with an abdominal wall contusion and a left-eye contusion. According to appellant’s testimony, at some point, Dr. Cathey “kept [her] out of work” pending her meeting Dr. Reginald Rutherford via Dr. Cathey’s referral.

Dr. Rutherford performed an evaluation of appellant on February 27, 2012. His report, of the same date, acknowledged appellant’s complaints of “head pain in the region |sof her laceration [and] difficulty with memory and dizziness,” but he went on to note that a CT scan “revealed evidence of sinusitis but not traumatic brain injury.” He opined that “[pharmacological intervention [regarding her isolated seizure would] only be required if a second seizure occurs or a[sic] EEG reveals seizure diathesis.” He referred appellant to Dr. John Roddey Dickins for a consult on appellant’s post traumatic dizziness and to Dr. Judy White Johnson for a neuropsy-chological evaluation. Dr. Rutherford excused appellant from work pending the completion of testing.

Dr. Dickins met with appellant on April 5, 2012, and noted in his report that he “believe[d] she [could] return to work now” with the caveat that “at this point[, he] would hold off driving.” His only other restriction on appellant was that she “not be on scaffold [sic] unprotected.”

In a letter to Dr. Rutherford dated April 9, 2012, Dr. Judy White Johnson stated that “[appellant’s] dizzy spells are thought by her obstetrician to be normal for her pregnancy” and that appellant “believes all her symptoms are associated with the pregnancy.” She went on to state that:

The pattern of the validity scales on the [Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2-RF] reflects an individual who is over-reporting physical, cognitive, and psychological problems. Her over-reporting of somatic symptoms is reflected in the assertion of a considerably larger than average number of somatic symptoms rarely described by individuals with genuine medical problems. Ms. Ball has a profound lack of insight into her psychological functioning. Expect significant denial, lack of self-awareness, and a striving to present herself in a very positive light.

Finally, Dr. Johnson stated that “the overall pattern of the neuropsychological test findings is within normal limits without indications of traumatic brain injury.”

| Jn his April 24, 2012 office visit report, Dr. Rutherford stated that appellant’s EEG was normal, that she was “ready to return to work[,]” and was “at maximum medical improvement.” He advised that “[t]here is no recommended workplace restriction and no recommended permanent partial impairment.” He issued a release to appellant on the same date stating that appellant may “return to work at regular duty with no restrictions.”

Appellant testified that she returned to work on April 24, 2012, and continued working until the end of the school year. Kathy Lee, appellee’s Assistant Superintendent, testified regarding appellant’s return to work. Lee testified that when appellant returned, she and Lee “reviewed her doctor’s releases and [they] kind of wrote a little contract where [Lee] asked [appellant] what she felt like she could do, couldn’t do, and then, [Lee] put some restrictions on things [she] did not want appellant doing since she was pregnant.” Lee made a written offer of a receptionist job to appellant until her driving restriction was removed, but she rejected the offer stating that “she wanted to get back to driving.” Appellant acknowledged receiving TTD benefits from, February 8, 2012, until April 23, 2012.

In a letter dated April 26, 2012, Dr. Dickins released appellant from his care, stating that it was his understanding that appellant’s symptoms “have cleared following our physical therapy treatment” and that he had “no reason to limit [appellant’s] activities at work other than what would normally be limited by her pregnancy.” He opined that “at the moment[,] I give [appellant] a zero partial permanent disability based on the evidence that we have.”

| .¡Appellant testified that she had another seizure in June; again, she did not seek emergency medical attention. She testified that after her June seizure, she stayed in bed most of the time as moving around made her feel worse. She noted that lying down when she started feeling bad had “worked where [the seizures had] not happened anymore.” She stated that she still experiences severe headaches and dizzy spells. She went to the doctor regarding the June seizure on July 11, 2012.

In an office visit report dated July 11, 2012, Dr.

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Bluebook (online)
2014 Ark. App. 313, 436 S.W.3d 158, 2014 Ark. App. LEXIS 406, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ball-v-wynne-public-schools-arkctapp-2014.