Logsdon v. SAIF Corp.

45 P.3d 990, 181 Or. App. 317, 2002 Ore. App. LEXIS 740
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedMay 8, 2002
Docket99-00431; A109321
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 45 P.3d 990 (Logsdon v. SAIF Corp.) 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
Logsdon v. SAIF Corp., 45 P.3d 990, 181 Or. App. 317, 2002 Ore. App. LEXIS 740 (Or. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinions

[319]*319LANDAU, J.

Claimant seeks review of an order of the Workers’ Compensation Board (board), challenging the adequacy of the board’s award of benefits and the failure of the board to permit him to engage in cross-examination of two physicians who provided medical opinions on reconsideration concerning the date that he became medically stationary. We affirm, writing only to address the board’s failure to permit claimant to cross-examine the physicians.

The pertinent facts are not in dispute. Claimant compensably injured his right knee in 1981. He received an award of scheduled permanent disability. In 1994, while working for employer, claimant again injured his right knee. Employer accepted a claim for acute septic arthritis of the knee. The claim was closed with an additional award of scheduled permanent disability.

In 1996, claimant sought treatment for continued pain and swelling of the right knee. His treating physician, Dr. Schieber, recommended a total knee replacement and authorized time loss beginning May 30, 1996. Employer eventually accepted a claim for aggravation of the right knee condition.

In 1998, Schieber recommended pain management therapy. At the pain center, Dr. Ploss reported that, because testing suggested that claimant was using heroin, pain center treatment was not appropriate. Ploss opined that claimant became medically stationary as of May 11,1998. Schieber agreed with Ploss as to the medically stationary date.

On August 19,1998, employer closed the claim by a determination order awarding temporary disability from May 30, 1996 through May 11, 1998, and awarding additional scheduled permanent disability for the right knee. Claimant requested reconsideration, and the order on reconsideration increased the award of scheduled permanent disability.

Claimant requested a hearing. He sought to compel employer to schedule depositions of Schieber and Ploss concerning their opinions about his medically stationary date. [320]*320The administrative law judge (ALJ) denied the motion, reasoning that ORS 656.283(7) prohibits taking evidence that was not in the reconsideration record. On the merits, the ALJ ultimately reduced the award of scheduled pérmanent disability and upheld the award of temporary disability through May 11,1998. The board adopted the ALJ’s order.

On review, claimant asserts that the board erred in failing to remand the claim to permit him to cross-examine Schieber and Ploss concerning his medically stationary date. He argues that, under Koskela v. Willamette Industries, Inc., 331 Or 362, 15 P3d 548 (2000), to the extent that ORS 656.283(7) precludes such cross-examination, the statute violates his rights to due process of law guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the federal constitution. Employer argues that, even under Koskela, cross-examination is required only when matters of credibility are at issue; in this case, the issue is simply one of “medical proof, not credibility.”

ORS 656.283(7) provides that “[e]vidence on an issue regarding a notice of closure that was not submitted at the reconsideration * * * is not admissible at hearing [.]” In Koskela, the court held that the statute requires that evidence offered at hearings on orders on reconsideration must be limited to what was presented in writing at reconsideration or what arises out of the reconsideration order itself. 331 Or at 375. Thus, it is clear that the statute forecloses the cross-examination of experts at a hearing on an order on reconsideration on the issue of when claimant became medically stationary. The question remains whether the statute, in so doing, is constitutional.

In Koskela, the Supreme Court addressed a related issue of whether ORS 656.283(7) is constitutional to the extent that it foreclosed the claimant from obtaining an oral hearing on the denial of permanent total disability benefits. The court held that, in failing to provide for such an oral hearing, the statute violated the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Applying the familiar three-part analysis of Mathews v. Eldridge, 424 US 319, 335, 96 S Ct 893,47 L Ed 2d 18 (1976), the court held: (1) a claimant whose claim has been accepted [321]*321has a significant property interest in receiving permanent total disability benefits, Koskela, 331 Or at 378-79; (2) because a worker seeking permanent total disability benefits must establish willingness to work and reasonable efforts to find suitable employment, and because those elements “require judgment about the worker’s credibility and veracity,” the probable value of an oral hearing is substantial, id. at 381; and (3) requiring an oral hearing will not significantly impair the state’s ability to resolve claim disputes efficiently, id. at 382.

Taking our cue from Koskela, we examine claimant’s constitutional contentions in this case by applying the three-part analysis of Mathews. Indeed, because the facts in Mathews closely parallel those in this case, we examine the Supreme Court’s opinion in some detail. At issue in Mathews was whether the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment requires the federal government to provide an opportunity for an evidentiary hearing before terminating social security temporary disability benefit payments on the ground that the claimant’s disability had ceased. The United States Supreme Court held that the constitution does not require such hearings. The Court held that determining the constitutional sufficiency of an administrative process involves a balancing of the individual and governmental interests that are affected. Mathews, 424 US at 334. That balancing requires consideration of three factors in particular:

“First, the private interest that will be affected by the official action; second, the risk of an erroneous deprivation of such interest through the procedures used, and the probable value, if any, of additional or substitute procedural safeguards; and finally, the Government’s interest, including the function involved and the fiscal and administrative burdens that the additional or substitute procedural requirement would entail.”

Id. at 335.

Applying that analysis to the facts of that case, the Court first held that, while a claimant has a property interest in continued disability benefits generally, an interest in the [322]*322continued receipt of temporary disability benefits is not particularly great. Id. at 340-42. Among other things, the Court considered significant in its assessment of the claimant’s interests that financial need does not necessarily determine eligibility for disability benefits, that the benefits are temporary in nature, and that other forms of government assistance become available when the termination of disability benefits causes substantial hardship. Id.

The Court next held that the risk of erroneous decisions and the probable value of additional procedural safeguards were limited at best.

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Logsdon v. SAIF Corp.
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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
45 P.3d 990, 181 Or. App. 317, 2002 Ore. App. LEXIS 740, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/logsdon-v-saif-corp-orctapp-2002.