Mohr v. Barrett Business Services

7 P.3d 665, 168 Or. App. 579, 2000 Ore. App. LEXIS 1111
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedJune 28, 2000
Docket97-04178; CA A103884
StatusPublished

This text of 7 P.3d 665 (Mohr v. Barrett Business Services) 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
Mohr v. Barrett Business Services, 7 P.3d 665, 168 Or. App. 579, 2000 Ore. App. LEXIS 1111 (Or. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

ARMSTRONG, J.

Claimant seeks review of an order of the Workers’ Compensation Board in which the Board held that claimant was not entitled to compensation for the medical services that he received after he experienced pain in his arm while at work. He assigns error to the Board’s determination that he did not show a sufficient connection between his workplace injury and the medical treatment to entitle him to compensation. We affirm.

Claimant worked as a long-haul trucker for employer. In the course of transcontinental runs, he would sometimes stop at his residence to refresh himself. Before setting off again, he would inspect the truck, checking the oil, coolant, belts, tires, and lights. During one of those inspections, when claimant attempted to open the 400-pound fiberglass hood of the truck to check the oil and water, he experienced extreme pain in his right arm where the biceps is attached to the elbow joint. Claimant went inside his house and attempted to contact his employer. He was unable to do so until the following day. He also did not seek medical attention until the next day, when he saw a physician’s assistant.

When employer’s agent came to pick up the truck, he noted that claimant’s arm had a scoop-like dent in it at the dorsal surface of the elbow. Moreover, the physician’s assistant whom claimant visited observed slight ecchymosis on claimant’s right arm.1 Claimant also reported that his right arm had reduced strength and that he felt tingling in the fingers. The physician’s assistant diagnosed a sprain and referred claimant for physical therapy. However, when claimant attempted to attend physical therapy, he was turned away because of the poor condition of his arm. Claimant then went to see Dr. Jacobson, who diagnosed an acute rupture of the distal biceps tendon and recommended surgery. When Jacobson performed the surgeiy, he discovered that the rupture of the tendon was actually quite old and that, because of extensive scarring, it could not be repaired by surgery. He found no evidence of a recent injury to claimant’s [582]*582arm and stated that, in his opinion, “[Claimant’s] employment activities * * * were not the cause of his need for surgery and treatment * *

Claimant sought compensation from employer for the surgery. Employer denied the claim, and the administrative law judge (ALJ) upheld the denial, concluding that claimant had failed to meet his burden to show a sufficient connection between his workplace injury and the medical services that he received. The ALJ also suggested that claimant had not met his burden to show an on-the-job injury in the first instance. The Board adopted the ALJ’s order. Claimant assigns error to the Board’s determination that he is not entitled to compensation, arguing that the Board’s holding is not supported by substantial evidence and that the Board erred in not awarding compensation for the diagnostic medical services that he received

Two statutes bear on the compensability of the medical services provided to claimant. First, ORS 656.005(7)(a) defines “compensable injury” and addresses the compensability of preexisting conditions:

“A ‘compensable injury’ is an accidental injury * * * arising out of and in the course of employment requiring medical services or resulting in disability or death; an injury is accidental if the result is an accident, whether or not due to accidental means, if it is established by medical evidence supported by objective findings, subject to the following limitations:
“* * :|: * *
“(B) If an otherwise compensable injury combines at any time with a preexisting condition to cause or prolong disability or a need for treatment, the combined condition is compensable only if, so long as and to the extent that the otherwise compensable injury is the major contributing cause of the disability of the combined condition or the major contributing cause of the need for treatment of the combined condition.”

In SAIF v. Nehl, 149 Or App 309, 312, 942 P2d 859 (1997), rev den 326 Or 389 (1998), we interpreted ORS 656.005(7)(a)(B) to require the factfinder to weigh the “extent of claimant’s preexisting condition * * * against the extent of his on-the-job [583]*583injury in determining which of the two is the primary cause of his need for treatment of the combined condition.” We further clarified that “a claimant needs to establish more than the fact that a work injury precipitates a claimant’s need for treatment in order to establish the compensability of his combined condition.” Id. at 313 (citations omitted; emphasis in original).

ORS 656.245 addresses the compensability of medical services. It provides, in part:

“(l)(a) For every compensable injury, the insurer or the self-insured employer shall cause to be provided medical services for conditions caused in material part by the injury for such period as the nature of the injury or the process of the recovery requires * * *. In addition, for consequential and combined conditions described in ORS 656.005(7), the insurer or the self-insured employer shall cause to be provided only those medical services directed to medical conditions caused in major part by the injury.”

Under ORS 656.005(7)(a), a claimant has the burden to show that the claimant suffered an accidental injury at work that required medical services or resulted in disability. Additionally, a claimant who has a preexisting condition must also show that the “compensable injury [was] the major contributing cause of the disability of the combined condition or the major contributing cause of the need for treatment of the combined condition.” ORS 656.005(7)(a)(B). Finally, under ORS 656.245(l)(a), the claimant must show that the medical expenses he seeks to recover were directed to a medical condition “caused in major part” by the compensable injury.

After examining the record, we conclude that the Board’s findings that claimant did not meet those burdens are supported by substantial evidence. Jacobson discovered evidence of a preexisting condition during surgery. The evidence is conflicting as to whether claimant’s workplace incident or his preexisting condition was the primary cause of his disability and need for treatment. While claimant did allege that he felt extreme pain in his arm during and immediately after the workplace incident, Jacobson, who performed the surgery, could find no evidence of a recent injury to claimant’s arm. Moreover, the record does not disclose whether [584]*584some of claimant’s other symptoms, such as ecchymosis and the dent in his arm, were preexisting or arose only after the workplace incident.

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Related

SAIF Corp. v. Nehl
942 P.2d 859 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1997)
Counts v. International Paper Co.
934 P.2d 526 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1997)
Brooks v. Timber
639 P.2d 700 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1982)

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Bluebook (online)
7 P.3d 665, 168 Or. App. 579, 2000 Ore. App. LEXIS 1111, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mohr-v-barrett-business-services-orctapp-2000.