Roseburg Forest Products v. Langley

965 P.2d 477, 156 Or. App. 454, 1998 Ore. App. LEXIS 1679
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedOctober 7, 1998
DocketH97-043; CA A98326
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 965 P.2d 477 (Roseburg Forest Products v. Langley) 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
Roseburg Forest Products v. Langley, 965 P.2d 477, 156 Or. App. 454, 1998 Ore. App. LEXIS 1679 (Or. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinion

ARMSTRONG, J.

Employer seeks review of an order of the Workers’ Compensation Division in which the Director concluded that certain medical services provided in 1996 were diagnostic services for a compensable injury suffered by claimant in 1984. Employer contends that the Director did not have jurisdiction over the medical services claim because, in a separate proceeding before the Workers’ Compensation Board, that claim had been accompanied by a claim for compensation for a combined or consequential condition. We conclude that the Director did have jurisdiction over the medical services claim and affirm.

Claimant suffered a compensable lumbosacral strain in 1984 while she was working for employer as a custodian. The claim was closed in 1988. Between 1986 and 1994, claimant underwent a series of diagnostic tests to determine whether her injury was causing the radiating pain that claimant was experiencing in her left lower extremity and foot. None of the tests revealed either disc herniation or nerve root compression, conditions that could have been linked to the original injury. Employer nevertheless paid for those tests. In 1994, claimant’s treating physician informed employer that claimant was “medically stationary and there are no further diagnostic or curative procedures possible.” Subsequently, in 1996, the same physician ordered a CT scan and myelogram, because claimant continued to complain of the radiating pain. Again, there was no sign of disc herniation or nerve root compression. There was, however, evidence of a degenerative disc condition. Claimant’s physician administered epidural steroids as treatment for the disc degeneration. Claimant submitted a claim for medical services to employer. Employer denied the claim, stating:

“Over the last few months, you have been receiving treatment for low back problems. It is the position of [Rose-burg Forest Products] that the current treatment received is not a result of your industrial injury occurring over eleven years ago.
“Your current claim for treatment is denied.”

[457]*457Claimant filed challenges to the denial with both the Workers’ Compensation Board and the Workers’ Compensation Division of the Department of Consumer and Business Services (the Director). The Board hearing took place on January 29, 1997, and the parties submitted written closing arguments on March 24, 1997. The record was closed on April 3, 1997, and the administrative law judge (ALJ) issued an opinion and order on May 5,1997. The hearing with the Director took place on April 4, 1997, and the ALJ in that hearing issued a proposed and final contested case hearing order on April 21,1997.

In the hearing before the Board, claimant argued that the medical services were directed at the earlier compensable injury and that her current condition was a compensable result of the earlier injury, so that both the diagnostic tests and the epidural steroid injections were compensable.1 The ALJ in that proceeding concluded, and the Board affirmed, that claimant’s earlier compensable injury was not the major contributing cause of her current condition and, consequently, that employer was not required to pay for treatment of that condition.2 The ALJ declined to address the medical services claim, stating:

“It is my opinion that new legislation has clearly granted exclusive jurisdiction over this matter to the Director!;] therefore I do not address the issue of whether certain medical treatment billings should be paid.”

(Emphasis in original.) The record does not indicate that employer sought Board review of the ALJ’s refusal to address the medical services claim.3

[458]*458At the hearing before the Director, the sole issue was whether the diagnostic services were related to claimant’s original compensable injury. Employer contended that the ongoing compensability proceedings before the Board stripped the Division of jurisdiction over the medical services claim. The AU in that proceeding (a different AU from the one conducting the Board hearing) disagreed, concluding that the Director had exclusive jurisdiction over the claim, because employer’s denial letter

“did not deny the compensability of any condition. Rather, the letter denied treatment on the basis that the treatment was not related to the accepted condition.”

(Emphasis in original.) In reaching that decision, the ALJ relied on our decision in SAIF v. Shipley, 147 Or App 26, 934 P2d 611 (1997). The Supreme Court has since affirmed our decision. SAIF v. Shipley, 326 Or 557, 955 P2d 244 (1998). On June 19, 1997, the Director issued a final order affirming the ALJ’s decision. Employer seeks review of that order.

On review, employer argues that the Director was stripped of jurisdiction over the medical services claim once that claim was combined with a claim for compensation for a new condition. Employer further argues that, even if the issue were properly before the Director, the wrong standard was applied in determining whether the services were covered by employer’s obligation to pay for services related to the original compensable injury.

Our resolution of the jurisdictional issue requires us to examine two separate statutes, ORS 656.2454 and ORS [459]*459656.704, in light of the Supreme Court’s decision in Shipley. We begin with the text of the statutes. ORS 656.704(3) is a jurisdictional statute, establishing the respective authority of the Director and the Board to hear certain claims. Under the terms of the statute, the Board has jurisdiction over “matters concerning a claim,” which are defined as “those matters in which a worker’s right to receive compensation, or the amount thereof, are directly in issue.” (Emphasis added.) The statute further provides that the Board does not have jurisdiction over medical services disputes arising under ORS 656.245, except as otherwise provided by that statute. Under ORS 656.245(6), the Board has jurisdiction only over those medical services disputes in which the denial of medical services is based on a denial of the compensability of the underlying claim. Otherwise, all claims for medical services under ORS 656.245 come within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Director. ORS 656.704(3).

In Shipley, the Supreme Court reviewed the texts of the statutes and concluded that, in a case where the compensability of an underlying claim was no longer at issue before the Board, the Board was stripped of any jurisdiction it may have had to address the claim for medical services. 326 Or at 564-65.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
965 P.2d 477, 156 Or. App. 454, 1998 Ore. App. LEXIS 1679, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/roseburg-forest-products-v-langley-orctapp-1998.