Guill v. M. Squared Transportation, Inc.

371 P.3d 523, 277 Or. App. 318, 2016 Ore. App. LEXIS 401
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedApril 6, 2016
Docket1304551; A157567
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 371 P.3d 523 (Guill v. M. Squared Transportation, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Guill v. M. Squared Transportation, Inc., 371 P.3d 523, 277 Or. App. 318, 2016 Ore. App. LEXIS 401 (Or. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

LAGESEN, J.

Claimant petitions for review of an order of the Workers’ Compensation Board in which the board, over a dissent by one member, upheld employer’s denial of his claim for workers’ compensation benefits. Claimant, a truck driver, suffered a syncopal episode, that is, a loss of consciousness,1 while driving his truck. Claimant’s truck crashed and, although claimant was not injured in the crash, employer required him to seek medical services for the purpose of diagnosing the cause of claimant’s fainting episode. Claimant requested workers’ compensation benefits for those diagnostic medical services, and employer denied the request. The board upheld employer’s denial, concluding that claimant failed to demonstrate that his fainting episode arose out of his employment and, for that reason, was not compensable. For the reasons that follow, we conclude that certain factual stipulations made by the parties establish as a matter of law that claimant’s syncopal episode was a “compensable injury” within the meaning of ORS 656.005(7) and that the board erred by concluding otherwise. Accordingly, we reverse and remand.

Under ORS 656.298(7) and ORS 183.482(8), we review an order of the board to determine whether the board’s findings are supported by substantial evidence and whether the board has correctly interpreted and applied applicable law. Blank v. US Bank of Oregon, 252 Or App 553, 554, 287 P3d 1272 (2012). Here, as explained further below, the parties stipulated to the pertinent facts. As a result, our review is for legal error.

The parties stipulated to the following facts below:

• Claimant is a truck driver.
• While on the job driving his truck, claimant suffered a syncopal episode and the truck ran into highway barriers.
• The highway barriers and the truck were damaged as a result of the accident, but claimant “did not [320]*320have any medical services for, or sustain, any injury apart from the syncopal episode.”
• Claimant “was taken off work for more than four days following the subject accident” and “required medical services to ascertain the source of the syn-copal episode.”
• Claimant had no prior history of syncope before the accident, and the medical services that claimant received “never ascertained the source of the episode.”
• “Claimant’s syncopal episode is truly unexplained.”

Claimant filed a claim for workers’ compensation benefits for the diagnostic medical services that he received for the syncopal episode. Employer denied the claim on the ground that it had “been unable to obtain sufficient evidence to establish that [claimant] sustained a compensable injury and/or occupational disease arising out of and in the course of employment within the meaning of Oregon’s workers’ compensation laws pursuant to ORS 656.005(7).”

Claimant requested a hearing. The parties stipulated to the facts listed above. The case was submitted to an administrative law judge (AL J) on the written record, and the ALJ upheld employer’s denial. Claimant then appealed the ALJ’s order to the board which, as noted, upheld the denial in a split decision. The board held that claimant failed to establish that his syncopal episode was connected to his work. In so doing, it rejected claimant’s argument that Livesley v. Russ, 296 Or 25, 30, 672 P2d 337 (1983), and other case law addressing the compensability of injuries resulting from falls with unascertainable causes, had any bearing on the analysis of whether the claim was compen-sable. The dissenting board member disagreed, reasoning that the parties’ stipulation that claimant’s on-the-job syn-copal episode was “truly unexplained” established that the episode was compensable as a matter of law under the case law that the majority had concluded was inapplicable.

Claimant petitioned for judicial review. The issue on review is whether the board erred when it determined [321]*321that claimant’s syncopal episode was not a “compensable injury” under Oregon’s Workers’ Compensation Act. We conclude that it did, agreeing largely with the analysis of the dissenting board member.

Under ORS 656.005(7)(a), “[a] ‘compensable injury’ is an accidental injury * * * arising out of and in the course of employment requiring medical services or resulting in disability.” Before us, the parties do not dispute that claimant’s syncopal episode occurred “in the course of’ claimant’s employment, or that claimant’s syncopal episode “require [ed] medical services” within the meaning of the statute. Rather, as we understand the issues framed by the parties, the questions before us are (1) whether claimant’s syncopal episode is an “injury” within the meaning of ORS 656.005(7)(a) and (2) if so, whether that injury is one “arising out of’ claimant’s employment within the meaning of the statute.

As to the first question—whether claimant’s synco-pal episode is an “injury” within the meaning of the statute— our case law establishes that it is. As we have explained, a claimant suffers an “injury” within the meaning of ORS 656.005(7)(a) if the claimant suffers a “harm, damage or hurt” that either requires medical services or results in disability or death. K-Mart v. Evenson, 167 Or App 46, 50, 1 P3d 477, rev den, 331 Or 191 (2000); see also Horizon Air Industries, Inc. v. Davis-Warren, 266 Or App 388, 394-97, 337 P3d 959 (2014). A harm that requires diagnostic medical services qualifies as an “injury” for purposes of the statute. K-Mart, 167 Or App at 50 (citing Finch v. Stayton Canning Co., 93 Or App 168, 173, 761 P2d 544 (1988)). Here, claimant experienced a harm—an unexplained loss of consciousness—that the parties stipulated required diagnostic medical services: “Claimant required medical services to ascertain the source of the syncopal episode.” Accordingly, claimant’s syncopal episode qualifies as an “injury” for purposes of ORS 656.005(7)(a).

The next question is whether claimant’s injury is one “arising out of’ claimant’s employment. For the reasons that follow, we conclude that the parties’ stipulation to the fact that claimant’s syncopal episode is “truly unexplained” [322]*322establishes that claimant’s injury is one that arose out of his employment.

Under Oregon law, whether a workplace injury is one “arising out of’ the claimant’s employment hinges on the type of risk that led to that injury. The Supreme Court has identified three categories of risks that lead to workplace injuries: “risks distinctly associated with employment, risks personal to the claimant, and ‘neutral’

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
371 P.3d 523, 277 Or. App. 318, 2016 Ore. App. LEXIS 401, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/guill-v-m-squared-transportation-inc-orctapp-2016.