Morrilton Manor v. Brimmage

952 S.W.2d 170, 58 Ark. App. 252, 1997 Ark. App. LEXIS 574
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arkansas
DecidedSeptember 3, 1997
DocketCA 96-1542
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 952 S.W.2d 170 (Morrilton Manor v. Brimmage) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Morrilton Manor v. Brimmage, 952 S.W.2d 170, 58 Ark. App. 252, 1997 Ark. App. LEXIS 574 (Ark. Ct. App. 1997).

Opinion

Sam Bird, Judge.

Morrilton Manor, a nursing home, appeals a decision of the Workers’ Compensation Commission that held that appellee had sustained a work-related back injury on June 6, 1995, and was entitled to medical benefits, temporary total disability benefits from June 8, 1995, to June 23, 1995, and the maximum allowable attorney’s fee for full controversion of the claim.

Appellant argues that (1) the Commission erred in failing to recognize that a presumption contained in Ark. Code Ann. §11-9-102(5)(B)(iv) (Repl. 1996) is an absolute bar to this claim, and that appellee waived any objection to the admission of the result of the drug test; (2) the Commission improperly gave the benefit of the doubt to the appellee; and (3) the Commission’s opinion is not supported by substantial evidence.

The parties stipulated that the employer-employee-carrier relationship existed on June 6, 1995. Appellee testified that she was assigned to the laundry room and had just taken some linens from a dryer, put them into a basket, and moved them to a folding table. In the process, a sheet fell to the floor, and when appellee bent over to pick it up, her back popped. She immediately reported the incident to her supervisor who filled out an accident report and directed appellee to submit a urine specimen for a drug screen. Although appellee was not scheduled to work on June 7th and 8th, she went in on June 8th to pick up her paycheck, and was told that the urine sample she gave on June 6th had been collected in an “inappropriate” container. She was asked to submit another specimen, and she did. The second specimen appellee gave tested positive for opiates (morphine and codeine), and on that basis appellant terminated appellee’s employment and controverted her workers’ compensation claim.

Appellant contended before the Commission that Ark. Code Ann. § ll-9-102(5)(B)(iv) (R.epl. 1996) operates as an absolute bar to appellee’s claim because the urine specimen collected two days after her injury tested positive for codeine. That statute provides:

(B) “Compensable injury” does not include:
(iv)(a) Injury where the accident was substantially occasioned by the use of alcohol, illegal drugs, or prescription drugs used in contravention of physician’s orders.
(b) The presence of alcohol, illegal drugs, or prescription drugs used in contravention of a physician’s orders shall create a rebuttable presumption that the injury or accident was substantially occasioned by the use of alcohol, illegal drugs, or prescription drugs used in contravention of physician’s orders.
(c) Every employee is deemed by his performance of services to have impliedly consented to reasonable and responsible testing by properly trained medical or law enforcement personnel for the presence of any of the aforementioned substances in the employee’s body.
(d) An employee shall not be entitled to compensation unless it is proved by a preponderance of the evidence that the alcohol, illegal drugs, or prescription drugs utilized in contravention of the physician’s orders did not substantially occasion the injury or accident.

Appellee contended that she was neither intoxicated nor had she taken drugs prior to her injury. She explained that the night before the second urine specimen was collected she was in pain and had taken a Tylenol #3 tablet given to her by her father, with whom she lived. Appellee said she had informed the nurse who collected the second sample that she had taken the Tylenol, which contains codeine. Appellee's father confirmed that he had given her the Tylenol #3 tablet for pain.

The administrative law judge said that the appellant had failed to prove that the drug screen performed on a urine specimen taken two days after an injury was a “‘reasonable and responsible’ test on which to base a denial of benefits for an injury ‘substantially occasioned’ by an intoxicant.” He held that the claimant had proven that she sustained a compensable back injury and was entitled to temporary total disability benefits from June 8, 1995, to June 23, 1995, and medical expenses. The Commission affirmed and adopted the opinion of the law judge.

Appellant argues that the Commission’s interpretation of the statute was erroneous, and that because appellee failed to object to the result of the drug test being considered by the Commission, any objection to it was waived. Appellant argues that, consequently, the Commission could not find that the drug test was not “reasonable and responsible,” or that it was insufficient evidence on which to base a denial of benefits. Appellee argues that the Commission may disregard the result of a drug test done on a urine specimen collected two days after an injury when the injured party admits having taken pain medication in the interim between the injury and submission of the urine specimen. We agree with appellee and find the appellant’s interpretation of the statute to be flawed.

Prior to 1993, the burden was upon the employer to prove that a claimant’s injury was the result of intoxication or drug use. Act 796 of 1993 shifted the burden to the claimant by creating a rebuttable presumption that an injury was substantially occasioned by an intoxicant if one is found to be present in the body. Now, if the claimant is found to have alcohol or drugs in his body after an injury, he must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that his injury was not substantially occasioned by the alcohol or drugs. In such cases, however, our standard of review remains the same.

This court on appeal is required to review the evidence in the light most favorable to the findings of the Commission and to give the testimony its strongest probative value in favor of the order of that Commission. ... [I]t is the function of this court to determine whether there is any substantial evidence to support the Commission’s finding.

Davis v. C & M Tractor Co., 4 Ark. App. 34, 40-41, 627 S.W.2d 561, 564 (1982); Country Pride v. Holly, 3 Ark. App. 216, 624 S.W.2d 443 (1981).

In Weaver v. Whitaker Furniture Co., 55 Ark. App. 400, 935 S.W.2d 584 (1996), we explained:

Under our prior workers’ compensation law, there was a prima facie presumption that an injury did not result from intoxication of the injured employee while on duty. See Ark. Code Ann. § 11-9-707(4) (1987). Act 796 of 1993, however, changed that presumption].]

55 Ark. App. at 401-02, 935 S.W.2d at 585.

The plain language of the last sentence of section 11-9— 102(5)(B)(iv)(d) denies compensation “unless it is proved by a preponderance of the evidence that the . . . illegal drugs . . . did not substantially occasion the injury or accident.” Furthermore, section ll-7-104(c)(3) ]ll-9-704(c)(3)] requires that all provisions of the chapter be strictly construed.

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

Related

Flowers v. Norman Oaks Construction Co.
6 S.W.3d 118 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 1999)
Express Human Resources III/Spirit Homes, Inc. v. Terry
968 S.W.2d 630 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 1998)
ERC Contractor Yard & Sales v. Robertson
961 S.W.2d 36 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 1998)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
952 S.W.2d 170, 58 Ark. App. 252, 1997 Ark. App. LEXIS 574, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/morrilton-manor-v-brimmage-arkctapp-1997.