Chadwick v. Multi-State Electric, LLC

362 P.3d 526, 159 Idaho 451, 2015 Ida. LEXIS 300
CourtIdaho Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 25, 2015
Docket42473-2014
StatusPublished

This text of 362 P.3d 526 (Chadwick v. Multi-State Electric, LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Chadwick v. Multi-State Electric, LLC, 362 P.3d 526, 159 Idaho 451, 2015 Ida. LEXIS 300 (Idaho 2015).

Opinions

EISMANN, Justice.

This is an appeal from an order of the Industrial Commission holding that the claimant did not prove he was entitled to benefits under the Worker’s Compensation Law for an alleged back injury. We affirm the order of the Commission.

I.

Factual Background.

On March 18, 2013, Scott M. Chadwick (“Claimant”) filed a complaint with the Industrial Commission seeking benefits under the Worker’s Compensation Law from his employer, Multi-State Electric, LLC (“Employer”), and its surety, Idaho State Insurance Fund (“Surety”). Claimant alleged that he had suffered back injuries as a result of an accident on May 29, 2012, and an accident on July 26, 2012. He went to various medical providers complaining of back pain, and on October 8, 2012, he had an MRI of his low back. The MRI showed that he had osteoarthritic changes in his lumbar spine and at L4-L5 he had a right paracentral disc protrusion with mild reduction of spinal canal caliber and localized mass effect in the region of the right L5 nerve root.

The matter was tried to a referee, but the Commission did not adopt the referee’s recommendations. After considering the Claimant’s prehearing deposition, the testimony presented during the evidentiary hearing before the referee, and the exhibits, the Commission issued its findings of fact, conclusions of law, and order. The Commission found that Claimant failed to prove that he suffered an injury from a workplace accident in the May event and that he failed to prove that the July event occurred. The Commission alternatively found that he had failed to provide timely notice to Employer of both claimed accidents, and that he failed to prove that Employer was not prejudiced by the failure to give timely notice. Therefore, he was denied benefits. Claimant then timely appealed:

II.

Did the Referee Err in Failing to Order the Defendants to Produce Discovery?

Claimant’s claim was set for prehearing and hearing before a referee. Claimant contends that at the prehearing, he requested that the Defendants be ordered to produce-certain discovery and that the referee erred in failing to address discovery in violation of Rule 8 of the Commission’s Judicial Rules of Practice and Procedure. The record reflects that on May 31, 2013, the Defendants served responses to Claimant’s request for discovery. On September 20, 2013, Claimant filed a document requesting a hearing as soon as possible to determine his eligibility for benefits. The referee ordered that he submit a request that complied with [454]*454Rule 8 of the Commission’s Judicial Rules of Practice and Procedure. On December 6, 2013, Claimant filed a request for calendaring in which he stated that his claim was ready for hearing. His request listed the issues to be heard, which did not include any reference to an alleged failure to produce documents requested in discovery. On December 11, 2013, the referee issued an order setting his claim for a telephonic prehearing on December 20, 2013, and for a hearing on January 31, 2014. The order listed the issues to be decided at the hearing. On December 24, 2013, after the prehearing, the referee issued an order amending the issues to be decided at the hearing.

Claimant contends that during the prehearing, he raised the issue of the Defendants’ failure to produce all of the documents that he had requested, and the referee responded that it was not the appropriate time to address that issue. The record on appeal does not show what was discussed at the prehearing; it does not include any order regarding discovery issued by the referee; and it does not indicate that any issue regarding discovery was ever presented to or decided by the Commission. Because there is no indication that any issue regarding discovery was ever presented to the Commission, it is not preserved for appeal. Ball v. Daw Forest Products Co., 136 Idaho 155, 160, 30 P.3d 933, 938 (2001).

III.

Did the Commission Abuse Its Discretion in Failing to Hold a Hearing to Determine whether the Hearing Should Have Been before the Commission?

In his request for hearing, Claimant stated, “It is necessary for the full Industrial Commission [sic] hear this claim.” The subsequent order setting the case for a prehearing and hearing was issued by the referee. The referee presided over the evidentiary hearing, but the Commission issued its findings of fact, conclusions of law, and order based upon its own review of the evidence admitted during the hearing. Claimant contends that the Commission abused its discretion in failing to hold a conference with all parties present to consider whether the hearing should have been before the Commission, as it was permitted to do pursuant to Rule 8 of its Judicial Rules of Practice and Procedure.

Rule 8 states that the Commission may hold a conference with all parties to discuss “[w]hether the case should be heard by the full Commission because it is a case of first impression, presents a situation to overturn or modify precedent, involves novel or complex facts, or otherwise merits hearing by the full Commission rather than by a Referee.” Jud. R. of Practice and Proc. 8(A)(8). Although in his request for hearing Claimant stated that the full Commission should hear his claim, he did not allege any facts that would bring it within the scope of Rule 8(A)(8). Therefore, because he failed to present that issue to the Commission in accordance with the requirements of Rule 8, he has failed to show that the Commission abused its discretion in failing to hold a conference to determine whether the Commission should preside over the hearing.

IV.

Did the Commission Err in Holding that Claimant Was Not Entitled to Benefits?

A. The May 2012 incident. In his complaint, Claimant alleged that he suffered an injury as a result of an industrial accident on May 29, 2012. On that day he sought treatment from a chiropractor, whose records show that Claimant reported that he suffered a work-related injury on May 26, 2012, when he jumped out of a truck and experienced low-back pain that radiated through his right side. During Claimant’s deposition, he testified that he did not recall telling the chiropractor that he hurt himself at work. He stated: “When I say ‘jump,’ I don’t mean I’m jumping two feet off a cliff. It is just stepping, jumping out of the van. It is not like a hop, jump.” Claimant regularly obtained treatment from the chiropractor until early August 2012, and throughout that treatment the chiropractor diagnosed Claimant as having a “Lumbar sprain/ strain.” Finally, the chiropractor recommended that he see a physician.

[455]*455When he was interviewed by Surety’s investigator, Claimant explained that he thought his low-back problems were the result of cumulative insults to his back during the twenty years he had worked as an electrician. He testified in his deposition that as work began picking up during the spring of 2012, he began to experience low-back pain, which he associated with the general demands of his work. He stated that only after reviewing his medical records in September 2012 did he remember the May incident.

The Commission found that Claimant had proved that the May incident occurred, but he failed to prove that the event caused damage to the physical structure of his body. Alternatively, the Commission held that Claimant had failed to give Employer timely notice of the alleged accident.

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Bluebook (online)
362 P.3d 526, 159 Idaho 451, 2015 Ida. LEXIS 300, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/chadwick-v-multi-state-electric-llc-idaho-2015.