Horn-Dalton v. State

2009 WY 14, 200 P.3d 810, 2009 Wyo. LEXIS 13, 2009 WL 262468
CourtWyoming Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 5, 2009
DocketS-07-0276
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 2009 WY 14 (Horn-Dalton v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wyoming Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Horn-Dalton v. State, 2009 WY 14, 200 P.3d 810, 2009 Wyo. LEXIS 13, 2009 WL 262468 (Wyo. 2009).

Opinion

VOIGT, Chief Justice.

[¶ 1] Appellant, Kathleen Horn-Dalton, claims that the district court erred when it upheld an Office of Administrative Hearings' (OAH) decision in favor of the Workers Safety and Compensation Division (Division), which determined that Appellant was not eligible for benefits. The district court upheld the OAH's dismissal of Appellant's claim because it found that Appellant did not timely file her claim and that Appellant was not eligible for benefits because she did not prove that her iliness was work related. We affirm.

ISSUES

[¶ 2] 1. Was the OAH's finding that Appellant's claim was untimely supported by substantial evidence?

2. Was the OAH's conclusion that Appellant failed to prove that her untimely filing did not prejudice her employer or the division against the great weight of the evidence, and did the OAH properly apply the statutory presumption to deny Appellant's claim?

3. Was the OAH's finding that Appellant failed to prove that her injury was work related against the great weight of the evidence?

*812 FACTS

[¶ 3] Appellant began work for the Southwest - Wyoming - Rehabilitation - Center (SWRC) in August of 1975. - Appellant served as Executive Director and later President of the organization. In 1999, relations between Appellant and the Board of Directors of SWRC began to deteriorate. There were several unpleasant confrontations and the Board attempted to fire Appellant while she was out of town. The Wyoming Attorney General's office intervened in 2000 because the Board was not operating according to its own corporate requirements and the Board was reorganized. However, relations between Appellant and the Board continued to deteriorate. The tension came to a head at a Board meeting in September of 2003, in which two Board members accused Appellant of a number of improprieties related to her position. Appellant became physically ill after the meeting and vomited several times. Several Board members resigned after the meeting, including those who had been most aggressive toward Appellant. In June of 2004, the Board requested Appellant's resignation.

[¶ 4] Appellant testified that, although she had been experiencing "pain and physical problems" for some time, she experienced increasing exhaustion and body aches after the September 80 meeting. Appellant left for a vacation shortly after the meeting. During her vacation, she fell and injured her knee in a grocery store. After the fall, Appellant experienced severe and increasing pain in her neck, back and hips. She sought relief from a series of orthopedic physicians, believing her symptoms to be a result of the fall. In March of 2004, Appellant visited a nurse practitioner for a regular checkup. The nurse practitioner informed Appellant that her symptoms were consistent with a diagnosis of fibromyalgia, and referred Appellant to a specialist. Appellant's nurse practitioner also provided Appellant with several prescriptions to manage her symptoms.

[¶ 5] Appellant was not able to get an appointment with a fibromyalgia specialist for several months. Appellant testified that she mentioned that she had fibromyalgia in a phone call with the corporate attorney for SWRC before she was asked to resign, and believed she bad informed the human resource director of her condition in a conversation about her work schedule. Appellant filled out a Report of Injury dated July 15, 2004, claiming that her hostile work environment had caused stress-related illness, including fibromyalgia, depression, panic attacks, and anxiety disorder. 1 In late 2004, a specialist confirmed the diagnosis of fibro-myalgia.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

[¶ 6] The standards of review for administrative decisions are set forth in Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 16-3-114(c) (LexisNexis 2007) as follows:

(c) To the extent necessary to make a decision and when presented, the reviewing court shall decide all relevant questions of law, interpret constitutional and statutory provisions, and determine the meaning or applicability of the terms of an agency action. In making the following determinations, the court shall review the whole record or those parts of it cited by a party and due account shall be taken of the rule of prejudicial error. The reviewing court shall:
(i) Compel agency action unlawfully withheld or unreasonably delayed; and
(Gi) Hold unlawful and set aside agency action, findings and conclusions found to be:
(A) Arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion or otherwise not in accordance with law;
(B) Contrary to constitutional right, power, privilege or immunity;
(C) In excess of statutory jurisdiction, authority or limitations or lacking statutory right;
(D) Without observance of procedure required by law; or
(E) Unsupported by substantial evidence in a case reviewed on the record *813 of an agency hearing provided by statute.

[¶ 7] We set forth in detail the proper application of these standards in Dale v. S & S Builders, LLC, 2008 WY 84, ¶¶ 20-26, 188 P.3d 554, 561-62 (Wyo.2008). "The finder of fact is charged with determining the time and cause of a compensable injury; however, whether an employee's claim is to be barred for failure to timely file notice or a claim is a mixed question of fact and law." Iverson v. Frost Constr., 2003 WY 162, ¶ 16, 81 P.3d 190, 195 (Wyo.2003). We will review de novo the question of law, whether the OAH correctly applied the statutory presumption of denial for untimely filing.. Dale, 2008 WY 84, ¶ 26, 188 P.3d at 561-62. We will determine if the findings of fact underlying that legal conclusion are supported by substantial evidence. Id. at ¶ 25, 188 P.3d at 561. We will review the OAH's finding that Appellant did not meet her burden of proof to determine "whether that conclusion was contrary to. the overwhelming weight of the evidence in the record as a whole." Id. at ¶ 22, 188 P.3d at 561. "Importantly, our review of any particular decision turns not on whether we agree with the outcome, but on whether the agency could reasonably conclude as it did, based on all the evidence before it." Id.

DISCUSSION

[¶ 8] The hearing examiner found that Appellant failed timely to report her injury as required by statute. He also found that Appellant's claim was presumptively denied because she failed to show that her employer and the division were not prejudiced as a result of her untimely claim. However, the hearing examiner addressed the merits of Appellant's claim and found that she had failed to prove that she had a compensable work-related injury.

Timeliness

[¶ 9] (a) As soon as is practical but not later than seventy-two (72) hours after the general nature of the injury became apparent, an injured employee shall, in writing or by other means approved by the department, report the occurrence and general nature of the accident or injury to the employer.

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Bluebook (online)
2009 WY 14, 200 P.3d 810, 2009 Wyo. LEXIS 13, 2009 WL 262468, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/horn-dalton-v-state-wyo-2009.