Loomer v. STATE EX REL. DIVISION

2004 WY 47, 88 P.3d 1036
CourtWyoming Supreme Court
DecidedApril 30, 2004
Docket03-26
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

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Bluebook
Loomer v. STATE EX REL. DIVISION, 2004 WY 47, 88 P.3d 1036 (Wyo. 2004).

Opinion

88 P.3d 1036 (2004)
2004 WY 47

Ronald Eugene LOOMER, deceased, Appellant (Petitioner),
v.
STATE of Wyoming, ex rel., WYOMING WORKERS' SAFETY AND COMPENSATION DIVISION, Appellee (Respondent).

No. 03-26.

Supreme Court of Wyoming.

April 30, 2004.

*1037 Representing Appellant: R. Michael Shickich, Casper, Wyoming.

Representing Appellee: Patrick J. Crank, Attorney General; John W. Renneisen, Deputy Attorney General; Steve Czoschke, Senior Assistant Attorney General; and David L. Delicath, Assistant Attorney General, Cheyenne, Wyoming.

*1038 Before HILL, C.J., and GOLDEN, LEHMAN, KITE, and VOIGT, JJ.

VOIGT, Justice.

[¶ 1] Ronald Eugene Loomer drove a truck to Colorado to make a delivery for his employer, TRC Rod Services of the Rockies, Inc. (TRC). While there, he had a heart attack and died. His widow, Sandra Loomer, filed a request for benefits with the Wyoming Workers' Safety and Compensation Division (the Division). After the Division denied benefits, Mrs. Loomer requested a hearing before the Medical Commission (the Commission). The Commission found that although Loomer was initially employed as a pipe inspector, on the day he died he was working as a truck driver. The Commission concluded that Mrs. Loomer had not satisfied the burden of proof set forth in Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 27-14-603(b)(ii) (LexisNexis 2003), requiring that she establish, by a preponderance of evidence, that on the day her husband died he was subject to employment stress "clearly unusual to or abnormal for employees in that particular employment...." Mrs. Loomer appealed the Commission's decision to the district court. The district court affirmed. We will also affirm.

ISSUES

[¶ 2] Three issues are raised in this appeal:

1. What is the "particular employment," for purposes of Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 27-14-603(b)(ii), of an employee who is hired as a pipe inspector, but who dies of a heart attack while working as a truck driver?

2. Was the Commission's determination that Mr. Loomer's employment stress on the day he died was not clearly abnormal to or unusual for employees in that particular employment supported by substantial evidence?

3. Did the burden of proof shift to the Division after Mrs. Loomer presented her evidence to the Commission?

FACTS

[¶ 3] In late January or early February of 2001, Mr. Loomer began working for TRC. TRC inspects and delivers pipes and "sucker rods" to oil wells. Mrs. Loomer testified that her husband was hired by TRC as a rod inspector, and indicated that he had been in the "pipe business" for at least twenty-five years.

[¶ 4] TRC's usual truck driver, Jim Dudley, lost his commercial driver's license and could no longer drive the truck used to deliver the rods. Aware that Mr. Loomer had recently obtained a commercial driver's license, TRC asked him to drive the truck and deliver rods to a client in Colorado. Mr. Loomer agreed to make the delivery. Mrs. Loomer testified that before her husband left, he told her that Dudley would accompany him to help unload the rods. For some reason, Dudley did not accompany him, and Mr. Loomer made the trip to Colorado alone.

[¶ 5] Upon arriving in Colorado, Mr. Loomer met Chad Baldwin, an employee of the company that was to receive the rods. Baldwin led Mr. Loomer to the delivery site. Although Baldwin was the only person with firsthand knowledge of what happened at the site that day, he was never deposed or called as a witness to testify. Karen Stricklett, a vocational assessment expert hired by Mrs. Loomer, spoke with Baldwin about the events of that day. Stricklett's report provides an account of her conversation with Baldwin:

When they arrived at the site, Mr. Loomer expressed concern about the fact that there was no one available to assist him with unloading the rods. Mr. Baldwin stated that he offered to help Mr. Loomer, although he had never been involved in this type of activity before. Mr. Baldwin stated that there was no equipment available at the site to assist with unloading. Mr. Loomer proceeded to reconfigure the truck in order to prepare the winch to be used to hoist the bundles of rod onto the ground. According to Mr. Baldwin, the process of disassembling and reconfiguring the truck appeared to involve a significant amount of physical exertion, such as lifting large pieces of pipe from the trailer bed. Shortly after this activity, Mr. Loomer collapsed.

*1039 Baldwin gave a similar account to Pam Whitlock, Mrs. Loomer's daughter, when Whitlock called him shortly after Mr. Loomer's death. Whitlock wrote a letter that was submitted to the Commission, in which she described her conversation with Baldwin:

[H]e explained he was under the impression he was only sent to show [Loomer] where the well was, that he was only a pumper.... When they got to the well there wasn't anyone to help unload. [Loomer] knew he needed a[n] empty truck to load for his next trip which he was leaving for the next day to Montana— [Loomer] said I guess we'll have to unload them or let's get started—[Baldwin] explained how [Loomer] said they should wench [sic] the truck up so it might be easier. He told me [Loomer] started complaining he wasn't feeling well and was going to go back to the truck to take some gas pills—[Baldwin] said he offered to take [Loomer] into town—but [Loomer] said no—[Baldwin] knew he just wanted to finish the job so he could get home—he said that was how he would of [sic] felt. They continued to work, I believe it was over an hour and he said on the last load [Loomer] didn't lower the rods he looked up and he was slunched [sic] over.

[¶ 6] An ambulance was called and paramedics unsuccessfully attempted to resuscitate Mr. Loomer. The day after Mr. Loomer's death, Dr. Michael J. Dobersen, M.D., Ph.D., a forensic pathologist with the Arapahoe County Coroner's Office, performed an autopsy and provided the following opinion regarding the cause of death:

This 53-year-old man was witnessed to collapse after complaints of not feeling well. He was pronounced dead a short time later at the scene despite resuscitative measures. His death is attributed to severe two-vessel coronary artery atherosclerosis due to arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Toxicologic analyses of body fluids obtained at the time of autopsy were negative. In view of the scene and circumstances surrounding the death and autopsy findings, the manner of death is classified as natural.

[¶ 7] Shortly after her husband's death, Mrs. Loomer filed a request for death benefits with the Division. TRC submitted a letter acknowledging that Mr. Loomer died while performing his job, but maintaining that his heart attack was not the result of any unusual stress or activity. The letter stated that driving the truck and unloading rods was "a normal task that he had done many times in the past." The Division, citing Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 27-14-603(b), concluded "[n]o [c]ausative exertion clearly unusual or abnormal for employees in this particular employment has been documented," and denied benefits.

[¶ 8] Mrs. Loomer objected to the Division's determination and requested a hearing before the Commission. Mrs. Loomer and the Division each submitted disclosure statements,[1] and a hearing was held. After opening statements by both attorneys, Mrs. Loomer testified first. She explained that her husband was hired by TRC as a pipe inspector, but that on the day he died he was working as a truck driver. She testified that prior to this instance, her husband had never driven the delivery truck for TRC.

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2004 WY 47, 88 P.3d 1036, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/loomer-v-state-ex-rel-division-wyo-2004.