Mapusaga v. Red Lion Riverside Inn

748 P.2d 1372, 113 Idaho 842, 1987 Ida. LEXIS 320
CourtIdaho Supreme Court
DecidedJune 11, 1987
Docket16411
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 748 P.2d 1372 (Mapusaga v. Red Lion Riverside Inn) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mapusaga v. Red Lion Riverside Inn, 748 P.2d 1372, 113 Idaho 842, 1987 Ida. LEXIS 320 (Idaho 1987).

Opinions

DONALDSON, Justice.

This is an appeal from a decision of the Industrial Commission involving a claim for Worker’s Compensation benefits wherein the commission found the claimant, Helen Mapusaga, totally and permanently dis[844]*844abled under the odd-lot doctrine.1 In so doing it apportioned the benefits paid to the claimant between the employer/surety and the Industrial Special Indemnity Fund (ISIF) in the ratio of 29% to 71%. The ISIF has appealed that decision raising a number of issues which are discussed below. We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand.

The factual and procedural history of this case is complex. We will address only those facts relevant to this decision. Mapusaga worked as a maid at the Red Lion Inn in Boise. The primary injury giving rise to the worker’s compensation claim occurred when Mapusaga pulled a bedspread onto a bed and immediately suffered an onset of backpain in her lower back.

At the time of her injury, claimant was seeing Dr. Lamarr Heyrend for psychiatric problems and had previously been a patient of Dr. Eric Holt, another psychiatrist, for four to five years. Apparently, the claimant’s psychiatric disorder was rooted in her childhood when she suffered numerous physical and mental abuses inflicted by both her parents. The psychiatric problems have remained with claimant throughout her adult life. It has caused directly or indirectly extensive alcohol and drug abuse, and numerous suicide attempts. Claimant has been hospitalized in the mental ward of St. Alphonsus Hospital in Boise, Idaho, on numerous occasions, and has been an involuntary patient at the Idaho State Hospital in Blackfoot.

One of claimant’s suicide attempts is relevant here. In 1980, after an argument with one of her sons, she shot herself with a rifle. As a result of this injury, the claimant suffered restricted use of her left arm, and hand and finger dexterity were substantially reduced.

Claimant’s employment history has been sporadic. Since the early 1970’s, she has held a number of jobs, all for short periods of time. Her most stable employment was as a maid, but she also had managed apartments, worked with a janitorial business and with a linen supply company. All of her employments were interrupted by periods of drinking, mental disorders, and other psychiatric problems.

As a result of the back injury, the claimant filed an application for a hearing with the Industrial Commission. The case was heard before a referee, where the claimant offered testimony. Subsequently, additional testimony in the form of depositions was submitted by several doctors and a vocational rehabilitation specialist. The commission issued an order containing findings of fact and conclusions of law. In this order the commission found that claimant was not capable of employment in any well-known branch of the labor market as the result of the back injury and the psychiatric disorder. The commission determined that the claimant suffered a 5% of the whole man impairment caused by the back injury, and in addition a 10% of the whole man disability caused by nonmedical factors such as age, education, and transferable job skills. Thus, ruling that the claimant was totally and permanently disabled, the commission held the employer/surety responsible for permanent/partial disability of fifteen percent of the whole person based on claimant’s back injury and on the nonmedical factors. However, the commission relying on the doctrine announced by this Court in Hartley v. Miller-Stephan, 107 Idaho 688, 692 P.2d 332 (1984), ruled that the claimant could not recover for the pre-existing psychiatric injury because she lacked physical manifestations of the disorder. Thus, the ISIF was not held accountable for any portion of claimant’s disability.

The claimant filed a motion for reconsideration challenging many of the findings of fact. The commission never ruled on the [845]*845motion for reconsideration, but instead, the referee contacted the attorneys for all parties, requesting their stipulation to the selection of a physician who could examine and evaluate claimant’s left arm. Despite the ISIF’s objection, the commission’s referee selected Dr. Robert C. Burton, a Boise neurologist. Dr. Burton examined the claimant and reported that claimant suffers from a 12% whole person impairment due to the arm injury. This report became part of the evidentiary record.

With the additional impairment rating of Dr. Burton, the commission issued a new opinion. In this opinion, the ultimate outcome changed substantially. First, the commission found that claimant’s self-inflicted injury to her arm and the impairment rating thereon constitutes a pre-existing physical impairment for the purpose of the ISIF’s threshold liability, I.C. § 72-382(1). Further, the commission found that claimant’s substantial personality disorder, although not a permanent physical impairment under I.C. § 72-332, is a personal circumstance under I.C. § 72-430, and, therefore, capable of being compensated for. The commission found that the substantial personality disorder and other non-medical factors result in a personal circumstance disability rating of about 80% of the whole man. When combined with the back injury (5% permanent physical impairment) and the arm injury (12% permanent physical impairment), the claimant is totally and permanently disabled. Applying the rule of Carey v. Clearwater County Road Dept., 107 Idaho 109, 686 P.2d 54 (1986), the commission apportioned responsibility for the personal circumstances between the employer/surety and the ISIF, ruling the employer/surety responsible for 29% of the claimant’s total disability, and ISIF responsible for the remaining 71%.

The ISIF filed a motion for reconsideration and rehearing challenging the new substituted opinion and order. Specifically, the ISIF challenged the commission’s action in reopening the record and taking evidentiary testimony of a doctor not subject to cross-examination by the ISIF and in not allowing the ISIF to submit additional evidence regarding Dr. Burton’s testimony. The commission denied the motion. The ISIF has appealed raising five issues: (1) whether the commission erred in refusing to consider evidence that claimant was capable of engaging in some limited employment; (2) whether a self-inflicted injury is a permanent physical impairment within the “subjective hindrance” standard of I.C. § 72-332(2); (3) whether the ISIF is entitled to the benefit of the defense contained in I.C. § 72-208(1) for injuries which were self-inflicted; (4) whether the claimant’s personality disorder is a “personal circumstance” and thus subject to apportionment between the employer/surety and the ISIF when calculating disability payments; and (5) whether the commission erred by reopening the record in order to allow the introduction of evidence relating to the physical impairment of claimant’s arm which was not part of the original hearing record.

I

We turn initially to the commission’s finding that claimant is totally and permanently disabled. The prerequisite to ISIF liability is a finding of total and permanent disability. I.C. § 72-332(1). Sines v. Appel, 103 Idaho 9, 644 P.2d 331 (1982). Our scope of review is well settled.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Smith v. Industrial Special Indemnity Fund
443 P.3d 178 (Idaho Supreme Court, 2019)
Christensen v. S.L. Start & Associates, Inc.
207 P.3d 1020 (Idaho Supreme Court, 2009)
Langley v. State, Industrial Special Indemnity Fund
890 P.2d 732 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1995)
Hipwell v. Challenger Pallet & Supply
859 P.2d 330 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1993)
Tagg v. State
844 P.2d 1345 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1993)
Red Lion Motor Inn-Riverside v. Industrial Sp. Indem. Fund
835 P.2d 1275 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1992)
Dumaw v. J.L. Norton Logging
795 P.2d 312 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1990)
Archer v. Bonners Ferry Datsun
786 P.2d 557 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1990)
Harrison v. Osco Drug, Inc.
776 P.2d 1189 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1989)
Roberts v. Asgrow Seed Co.
775 P.2d 101 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1989)
Garcia v. J.R. Simplot Co.
772 P.2d 173 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1989)
Horton v. Garrett Freightlines, Inc.
772 P.2d 119 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1989)
Hegel v. Kuhlman Bros., Inc.
771 P.2d 519 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1989)
Colpaert v. Larson's, Inc.
771 P.2d 46 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1989)
Mapusaga v. Red Lion Riverside Inn
748 P.2d 1372 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1987)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
748 P.2d 1372, 113 Idaho 842, 1987 Ida. LEXIS 320, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mapusaga-v-red-lion-riverside-inn-idaho-1987.