Hill v. Treadaway

2014 Ark. App. 185, 433 S.W.3d 285, 2014 WL 960993, 2014 Ark. App. LEXIS 220
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arkansas
DecidedMarch 12, 2014
DocketNo. CV-13-999
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 2014 Ark. App. 185 (Hill v. Treadaway) 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
Hill v. Treadaway, 2014 Ark. App. 185, 433 S.W.3d 285, 2014 WL 960993, 2014 Ark. App. LEXIS 220 (Ark. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

WAYMOND M. BROWN, Judge.

| jAppellant appeals from the Arkansas Workers’ Compensation Commission’s (Commission) reversal of the administrative law judge’s (ALJ) denial of benefits to appellee on finding that appellee proved that he sustained a compensable injury and proved that he was entitled to temporary total-disability benefits and reasonably necessary medical treatment. Appellant’s sole point on appeal is that there was not substantial evidence to support the Commission’s finding that appellee proved that he sustained a compensable injury and proved that he was entitled to temporary total-disability benefits and reasonably necessary medical treatment. We affirm.

Appellee had been employed by appellant as a mechanic for one week on August 31, 2008. On that date, appellee accompanied his brother, Tyler Treadaway, also employed by appellant, on Tyler’s second service call.1 While on that service call, appellee |2was injured when a tire exploded while he was airing it up. As a result, appellee sustained multiple injuries that required him to be transported by med-flight to a hospital in Memphis where he underwent surgery.

Following the incident, appellee filed a claim for workers’ compensation benefits; however, there is nothing showing the date appellee filed his claim for workers’ compensation benefits, and appellant had no recollection of the same. It is clear from the record that appellant also filed a claim with the Commission regarding appellee’s incident. Nothing in the record shows the date appellant filed his claim; however, it is clear that he learned that he did not have workers’ compensation insurance upon so filing. Following an investigation by the Commission’s Compliance Division, appellant was charged on October 22, 2008, with violation of Arkansas Code Annotated section ll-ÍM06(a) for failure to secure workers’ compensation coverage.2 He was found to be noncompliant and fined in an order dated December 11, 2008.3 We note that it is not clear from the record whether appellant contested appellee’s workers’ compensation claim from its initial filing or only after learning that he was not insured.

A hearing on appellee’s claim was held before an ALJ on February 21, 2013. At that hearing, appellee testified, in pertinent part, that he had worked for appellant for one week at the time of the incident; was hired as a diesel mechanic; and had no experience or | straining with truck tires. He further testified that another employee, James, was on call on the day of the incident, although Tyler was called to service a truck;4 that Tyler said appellant told Tyler to take appellee with him on the call, which Tyler did;5 and that appellee had completely repaired one tire and was in the process of airing up a second tire when “[that] tire exploded in [his] face.” Finally, he testified that “there was no rule about one person going or two people going” on a service call.

In pertinent part, Tyler testified that appellee was not mentioned when he first received the service call from appellant, but that appellant “approved [Tyler] to take [appellee]” on the service call, “saying something to the effect of sure, take him along” when Tyler called back and requested appellee’s assistance. He went on to testify that appellant did not ask any questions about whether appellee should have been at the site of the incident and “did not criticize or reprimand [Tyler] for taking [appellee].”

Appellant was the final person to testify. In pertinent part, he testified that appellee was not scheduled to work on the day of the incident; that Tyler, not James, was on call as he had the appellant’s personal shop phone, which was always given to the person who was on call;6 and that he told Tyler no when Tyler asked if appellee could go on the service call. Appellant gave three reasons for saying no to Tyler’s request: (1) appellee was not on call, (2) appellant had a policy of never having more than one person on a service |4call for safety reasons, and (3) appellee was inexperienced with the type of tire involved and therefore was not qualified to work the call.7

Appellant testified further that he had “no idea that [appellee] was in the truck” and that he questioned Tyler about appel-lee’s presence at the service call when Tyler called to report the incident, though he did not bring it up when he arrived at the site due to worry for appellee’s well-being.8 Of note was appellant’s testimony that he paid appellee’s wife “$800 a week for several weeks after” the incident though appellee had only worked for one week at the time of the incident. He only stopped the payments upon learning that appellee’s wife had retained an attorney, at which point he testified to stating “Okay. I’m not paying anymore.”

Following the hearing, the ALJ issued an opinion on May 22, 2013, finding that appellee failed to carry his burden to prove that he had sustained a compensable injury. Following an appeal to the Full Commission, it issued an opinion on October 9, 2013, reversing the ALJ and finding that appellee proved he sustained a compensa-ble injury and proved he was entitled to temporary total-disability benefits and reasonably necessary medical treatment.

This timely appeal followed.

In appeals involving claims for workers’ compensation, we view the evidence in the light most favorable to the Commission’s decision and affirm the decision if it is |fisupported by substantial evidence.9 Substantial evidence exists if reasonable minds could reach the Commission’s conclusion.10 The issue is not whether the appellate court might have reached a different result from the Commission; if reasonable minds could reach the result found by the Commission, the appellate court must affirm.11

Questions concerning the credibility of witnesses and the weight to be given to their testimony are within the exclusive province of the Commission, and when there are contradictions in the evidence, it is within the Commission’s province to reconcile conflicting evidence and to determine the true facts.12 The Commission is not required to believe the testimony of the claimant or any other witnesses but may accept and translate into findings of fact only those portions of the testimony that it deems worthy of belief.13

The sole issue on appeal is whether there was substantial evidence supporting the Commission’s finding that appellee proved that he sustained a compensable injury and proved that he was entitled to temporary total-disability benefits and reasonably necessary medical treatment. Appellant argues that the Commission erred in its findings of fact and application of the law regarding employment services. Specifically, appellant argues that the fact that “[ajppellee was arguably advancing his employer’s interest at the time of the | (¡accident” did not negate the fact that appellee, according to appellant, was performing employment services outside the time and space boundaries of his employment when the injury occurred. We disagree.

Pursuant to Act 796 of 1993, we are required to strictly construe the workers’ compensation statutes.14

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2014 Ark. App. 185, 433 S.W.3d 285, 2014 WL 960993, 2014 Ark. App. LEXIS 220, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hill-v-treadaway-arkctapp-2014.