Olsen v. LABOR COM'N

2011 UT App 70, 249 P.3d 586, 677 Utah Adv. Rep. 14, 2011 Utah App. LEXIS 71, 2011 WL 817180
CourtCourt of Appeals of Utah
DecidedMarch 10, 2011
Docket20100163-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 2011 UT App 70 (Olsen v. LABOR COM'N) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Utah primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Olsen v. LABOR COM'N, 2011 UT App 70, 249 P.3d 586, 677 Utah Adv. Rep. 14, 2011 Utah App. LEXIS 71, 2011 WL 817180 (Utah Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

249 P.3d 586 (2011)
2011 UT App 70

George M. OLSEN, Petitioner,
v.
LABOR COMMISSION, Employers' Reinsurance Fund, Utah Concrete Pipe Co., and Continental Insurance Co., Respondents.

No. 20100163-CA.

Court of Appeals of Utah.

March 10, 2011.

*588 Aaron J. Prisbrey, St. George, for Petitioner.

Edwin C. Barnes, Wendy Bowden Crowther, and Robert D. Andreasen, Salt Lake City, for Respondent Employers' Reinsurance Fund.

Alan L. Hennebold, Salt Lake City, for Respondent Labor Commission.

Thomas C. Sturdy, Salt Lake City, for Respondents Utah Concrete Pipe Co. and Continental Insurance Co.

Before Judges DAVIS, McHUGH, and VOROS.

OPINION

DAVIS, Presiding Judge:

¶ 1 George M. Olsen challenges the Utah Labor Commission's (the Commission) denial of permanent total disability benefits relating to his 1963 industrial injury. We affirm.

BACKGROUND

¶ 2 On November 6, 1963, while working as a supervisor at Utah Concrete Pipe Co. (Utah Concrete), Olsen's arm was caught in the mechanism of a conveyor belt while he was attempting to clear away some debris caught in one of the rollers. Olsen's right arm was amputated below the elbow in the accident, but he returned to work seven days later. Olsen continued to work for Utah Concrete until 1969. He then accepted a job in California doing the same type of work. After six-and-one-half years in California, Olsen was induced to return to Utah Concrete, where he remained until his retirement in 1986 at the age of sixty-two.

¶ 3 In 2006, nearly twenty years after his retirement and forty-three years after the accident, Olsen filed an application for hearing requesting permanent total disability benefits, claiming that his 1963 industrial injury had caused him to be unable to work since the time of his retirement. Utah Concrete contested this claim, arguing that any disability Olsen may have had was not the result of his industrial accident, as evidenced by the fact that he had continued to work until retirement age following the accident.

¶ 4 A hearing was held before an administrative law judge on September 15, 2006. Olsen testified that although he continued to work, his job was more difficult after his accident. In particular, because he was right-handed and now had to write with his left hand, it took him an additional two or three hours each day to complete his production reports, increasing his work day from nine or ten hours before the accident to twelve hours after the accident. Additionally, although his supervisory job did not regularly involve manual labor, he was responsible for training new employees, which required him to demonstrate a variety of physical tasks and "had an impact on [his] arm." Olsen testified that he has a "constant pain in [his] right arm," which he rated as five on a scale from zero to ten, and that his pain increases with activity. Olsen testified that the pain in his arm did not increase between the time of the accident and the time he retired, stating that "it's been a fairly constant thing from day one." He has also had periodic infections in his arm that have cleared up with antibiotics. He takes only Tylenol for pain, electing not to take the more potent pain killers he has been prescribed because they have an "adverse effect" on him.

¶ 5 When Olsen took early retirement at age sixty-two, he accepted lower Social Security and company retirement benefits. He testified that his reason for retiring was that he "was having a lot of difficulty with [his right arm], with the stress, [and] with the pain" and that he "was going downhill physically." He also testified that it had been his goal to make it to age sixty-two before retiring. Two years prior to his retirement, Olsen discussed his intention to retire with his manager, telling him that he "was having constant problems with . . . infection, right arm infection, and constant pain, constant frustrations" and that he "wanted to get away from it . . . [and] couldn't deal with it." Six months prior to his retirement, Olsen sent a letter to his manager, formally giving *589 notice that he intended to take early retirement "due to some health problems that were not responding to medical treatment." The letter did not specifically mention any problems with Olsen's arm.

¶ 6 Olsen testified that as he got older, it was more difficult to work the high number of hours required of him. He also indicated that when Utah Concrete began acquiring other companies, he was required to travel throughout the country to evaluate the target businesses and that his work would pile up while he was away because there was no one else assigned to take care of it. He testified that the supervisory job he held was so stressful that "many superintendents [keeled] over with heart attacks and died" and that at the time of his retirement, he "was having to go to the doctor about a lot of problems." Olsen had part of his thyroid removed in 1956, was diagnosed with a heart arrhythmia in 1981, and suffers from hypertension. In the years following his retirement, Olsen was implanted with a pacemaker and was diagnosed with prostate and colon cancer.

¶ 7 Olsen testified that he was still capable of doing his job at Utah Concrete at the time of his retirement, that he was never made aware of any problems with his performance, and that Utah Concrete wanted him to come back to work for them. However, he testified that he could not do his job without pain. Following his retirement, Olsen was hired as a consultant for Utah Concrete on two different occasions, once for six weeks and once for three weeks. He has not had any other employment since his retirement. Olsen testified that after his retirement, he continued to do household chores and served a one-year church mission with his wife. He also traveled to Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Mexico, Germany, Belgium, Holland, France, and Switzerland between 1983 and 1988.

¶ 8 In 2006, Olsen asked two doctors who treated him in the years following his amputation, Dr. Lewis and Dr. Hunter, to prepare "Summary of Medical Record" forms indicating their opinion regarding the effect of his amputation on his ability to work. Both doctors indicated that they believed Olsen was permanently and totally disabled as a result of the amputation.

¶ 9 The administrative law judge denied Olsen's claim, and Olsen thereafter filed a motion for review with the Commission. The Commission found that despite Olsen's injury, he had achieved a long and successful career and his skills continued to be in demand following his retirement. The Commission also found that the pain in Olsen's arm was only one of a variety of factors influencing his decision to retire. The Commission thus concluded that Olsen failed to establish that there was no regular, dependable work available to him as a result of his industrial accident. Olsen now seeks review of the Commission's decision.

ISSUES AND STANDARDS OF REVIEW

¶ 10 Olsen first challenges the factual findings of the Commission. "Whether the findings [of fact] are adequate is . . . a legal determination that requires no deference to the Commission." Adams v. Board of Review of the Indus. Comm'n, 821 P.2d 1, 4 (Utah Ct.App.1991). However, "we will change a factual finding only if it is not supported by substantial evidence when viewed in light of the whole record before the court." King v. Industrial Comm'n, 850 P.2d 1281

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Bluebook (online)
2011 UT App 70, 249 P.3d 586, 677 Utah Adv. Rep. 14, 2011 Utah App. LEXIS 71, 2011 WL 817180, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/olsen-v-labor-comn-utahctapp-2011.