Penn v. Options, Inc.

858 So. 2d 557, 2002 La.App. 1 Cir. 1987, 2003 La. App. LEXIS 1927, 2003 WL 21480391
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 27, 2003
DocketNos. 2002 CA 1987, 2002 CA 1988
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 858 So. 2d 557 (Penn v. Options, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Penn v. Options, Inc., 858 So. 2d 557, 2002 La.App. 1 Cir. 1987, 2003 La. App. LEXIS 1927, 2003 WL 21480391 (La. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

LKLINE, J.

Appellant, Edwina Penn, appeals the decision of the workers’ compensation judge (“WCJ”) dismissing her claim against ap-pellees, Options, Inc. (“Options”), and its carrier, Louisiana Workers’ Compensation Corporation (“LWCC”). For the following reasons, we affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Claimant, Edwina Penn, was employed by Options where she served as a licensed nursing assistant, working with clients who were handicapped and who had special needs. On February 1, 2000, while in the course and scope of her employment, Ms. Penn was attacked by a client and suffered injury to her neck. Ms. Penn received medical treatment approved and paid for by Options for the injury to her neck. She ultimately returned to work. She asserts that she also suffered injury to her right knee as a result of that attack and that her right knee injury was aggravated on February 16, 2000 when she was required to kneel down during training to perform a CPR test. Options denies that such an incident occurred on February 16, 2000.

On December 5, 2000, Ms. Penn filed a disputed claim for compensation with the Office of Workers’ Compensation (“OWC”), alleging injury to her right knee due to a work-related accident on February 16, 2000 where she knelt down on the floor during training. On December 6, 2000, Ms. Penn filed a separate disputed claim for compensation form with the OWC alleging a cervical strain, on February 1, 2000, whereby a patient attacked her and grabbed her around her neck. She asserted that no wage benefits had been paid, no choice of orthopaedic physician was allowed, and that she was disabled. In both claims, attorney’s fees and penalties were requested, the latter due to her other knee injury not being acknowledged. Both claims were consolidated by order dated March 19, 2001. Due to claimant’s failure to appear for a properly noticed conference or for trial, her claim was dismissed without prejudice on March 15, 2002, only to be reinstated upon a showing of good cause within thirty days of that order. On April 4, 2002, claimant [560]*560filed a motion and order to reinstate, which was signed by the WCJ.

13A trial on the merits was held on May 29, 2002. On June 5, 2002, the WCJ rendered and signed a judgment stating the following:

Upon consideration of the evidence the Court concludes as follows:
IT IS ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that the employee has failed to meet her burden of proof in proving an accident with injury to her right knee occurred during the course of her employment with the employer, allegedly occurring on or about February 16, 2000 thus dismissing this aspect of her claim with prejudice.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that the employee has failed to carry her burden in proving the necessity of ongoing treatment with respect to her February 1, 2000 cervical strain occurring during the course of her employment with Defendant herein, thus dismissing her claim for continued benefits without prejudice.

Claimant appeals this judgment.

LAW AND DISCUSSION

Factual findings in a workers’ compensation case are subject to the manifest error or clearly wrong standard of appellate review. Banks v. Industrial Roofing & Sheet Metal Works, Inc., 96-2840, p. 7 (La.7/1/97), 696 So.2d 551, 556. For an appellate court to reverse a trial court’s factual finding, it must find from the record that a reasonable factual basis does not exist for the finding of the trial court and that the record establishes that the finding is clearly wrong. Mart v. Hill, 505 So.2d 1120, 1127 (La.1987). If the findings are reasonable in light of the record reviewed in its entirety, an appellate court may not reverse even though convinced that had it been sitting as the trier of fact, it would have weighed the evidence differently. Furthermore, when factual findings are based on the credibility of witnesses, the fact finder’s decision to credit a witness’s testimony must be given “great deference” by the appellate court. Rosell v. ESCO, 549 So.2d 840, 844 (La. 1989). Thus, when there is a conflict in the testimony, reasonable evaluations of credibility and reasonable inferences of fact should not be disturbed upon review, although the appellate court may feel that its own evaluations and inferences are as reasonable. Id.

In order for a claimant to be entitled to recover workers’ compensation benefits, she must prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, that a work-related accident occurred and that an injury was sustained. A claimant’s 1 ¿testimony alone may be sufficient to discharge this burden of proof, provided two elements are satisfied: (1) no other evidence discredits or casts serious doubt upon the worker’s version of the incident, and (2) the worker’s testimony is corroborated by the circumstances following the alleged incident. Jackson v. Savant Insurance Company, 96-1424, p. 3 (La.App. 1 Cir. 5/9/97), 694 So.2d 1178, 1180. See also Bruno v. Harbert International Inc., 593 So.2d 357, 361 (La.1992).

In workers’ compensation cases, disability is presumed to be the result of the work-related accident if the claimant was in good health before the accident, and the symptoms of the disability appear after the accident and continue to manifest themselves. This presumption is available when sufficient medical evidence is introduced to show a reasonable possibility of a causal connection between the disability and the work-related accident, or that the nature of the accident raises a natural [561]*561inference that such a causal connection exists. LeBlanc v. Cajun Painting Inc., 94-1609, p. 10 (La.App. 1 Cir. 4/7/95), 654 So.2d 800, 807, writs denied, 95-1706, 95-1655 (La.10/27/95), 661 So.2d 1349, 1350. Thus, where there is proof of an accident and a following disability, without an intervening cause, it is presumed that the accident caused the disability. Jackson, 694 So.2d at 1180. Moreover, the fact that a claimant does not realize or diagnose the full extent of his injury immediately after an accident should not bar him from recovery. Middleton v. International Maintenance, 95-0238, pp. 6-7 (La.App. 1 Cir. 10/6/95), 671 So.2d 420, 424, writ denied, 95-2682 (La.1/12/96), 667 So.2d 523.

Thus, in determining whether a worker has shown by a preponderance of the evidence that an injury-causing accident occurred in the course and scope of employment, the trier of fact is expected to focus upon the issue of credibility because, absent contradictory circumstances and evidence, a claimant’s testimony is accorded great weight. Bruno, 593 So.2d at 361. The determinations by the workers’ compensation judge as to whether the claimant’s testimony is credible and whether the claimant has discharged his burden of | Rproof are factual determinations and will not be disturbed upon review in the absence of manifest error or unless clearly wrong. Id.

In the instant case, in dispute was whether the claimant suffered compensa-ble workers’ compensation injuries to her right knee as a result of a February 16, 2002 incident when she knelt down during training, and also whether the claimant’s cervical strain resulting from the February 1, 2002 incident, when she was attacked by a client, necessitates ongoing treatment. The OWC judge concluded that the claimant failed to satisfy her burden of proof in each instance.

Ms.

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Bluebook (online)
858 So. 2d 557, 2002 La.App. 1 Cir. 1987, 2003 La. App. LEXIS 1927, 2003 WL 21480391, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/penn-v-options-inc-lactapp-2003.