Saif Corp. v. Carlos-Macias (In re Comp. of Carlos-Macias)

418 P.3d 54, 290 Or. App. 801
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedMarch 21, 2018
DocketA150950
StatusPublished

This text of 418 P.3d 54 (Saif Corp. v. Carlos-Macias (In re Comp. of Carlos-Macias)) 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
Saif Corp. v. Carlos-Macias (In re Comp. of Carlos-Macias), 418 P.3d 54, 290 Or. App. 801 (Or. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

ARMSTRONG, P.J.

*802This workers' compensation case is on remand from the Supreme Court for reconsideration in light of Brown v. SAIF , 361 Or. 241, 272, 391 P.3d 773 (2017) ( Brown II ). As explained in our original opinion, SAIF v. Carlos-Macias , 262 Or. App. 629, 631, 325 P.3d 827 (2014), claimant compensably injured his left shoulder. SAIF accepted a left shoulder strain and rotator cuff tendinosis and paid for surgery. The dispute on judicial review arose when claimant's orthopedist recommended diagnostic tests to determine the cause of claimant's continued symptoms. Ultimately, the Workers' Compensation Board determined that the requested diagnostic services were compensable under ORS 656.245(1)(a), and employer Sherman Paint & Collision and SAIF sought review, asserting that there was no causal relationship between the requested services and claimant's accepted conditions.

*55In our original opinion, we affirmed the board's order and upheld the board's determination that the diagnostic services were necessitated by the accepted conditions. Carlos-Macias , 262 Or. App. at 638-39, 325 P.3d 827. We also held, citing our opinion in Brown v. SAIF , 262 Or. App. 640, 325 P.3d 834 (2014) ( Brown I ), that the requested diagnostic services were compensable because they were related to claimant's "compensable injury," which we understood in Brown I to be a reference to the work-related injury incident, rather than the accepted condition. We rejected employer's and SAIF's contention that the compensability of diagnostic services is determined by reference to the "accepted condition." Carlos-Macias , 262 Or. App. at 637, 325 P.3d 827.

SAIF petitioned for review of our opinion, and the Supreme Court has remanded the case to us for reconsideration in light of its opinion in Brown II , in which it reversed our decision in Brown I and determined that "compensable injury," as used in ORS 656.005(7)(a)(B), refers to the medical condition or disability previously accepted. The court in Brown II explicitly expressed no opinion on whether its conclusion regarding the meaning of "compensable injury" in ORS 656.005(7)(a)(B) applies to the meaning of "compensable injury" in ORS 656.245, stating that the question was *803pending and depended "on the careful construction of the relevant terms of the applicable statute." 361 Or. at 282, 391 P.3d 773. The question on remand concerns that issue.

In our recent opinion in Garcia-Solis v. Farmers Ins. Co. , 288 Or. App. 1, 403 P.3d 803 (2017), we addressed that same issue, concluding, in essence, that the Supreme Court's decision in Brown II implicitly overturned our original construction of ORS 626.245 in this case, and that "compensable injury," as used in ORS 656.245, has the same meaning that it does in ORS 656.005(7)(a)(B). We noted that, before our opinion in Brown I and the cases that followed it, see, e.g. , Carlos-Macias ; Easton v. SAIF , 264 Or. App. 147, 331 P.3d 1035 (2014), our case law had long held that diagnostic testing is compensable if its purpose is to determine the cause or extent of a compensable injury. Garcia-Solis , 288 Or. App. at 4, 403 P.3d 803. We cited our opinion in Roseburg Forest Products v. Langley , 156 Or. App. 454, 463, 965 P.2d 477 (1998), in support of the conclusion that diagnostic services are compensable for the purpose of determining the cause or extent of the original compensable injury but not for the purpose of establishing the compensability of a new or consequential condition. Garcia-Solis , 288 Or. App. at 5, 403 P.3d 803. And we concluded in Garcia-Solis

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Related

SAIF Corp. v. Sprague
217 P.3d 644 (Oregon Supreme Court, 2009)
SAIF Corp. v. Swartz
270 P.3d 335 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2011)
SAIF Corp. v. Martinez
182 P.3d 873 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2008)
Brown v. SAIF Corp.
391 P.3d 773 (Oregon Supreme Court, 2017)
Roseburg Forest Products v. Langley
965 P.2d 477 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1998)
SAIF Corp. v. Carlos-Macias
325 P.3d 827 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2014)
Brown v. SAIF Corp.
325 P.3d 834 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2014)
Easton v. SAIF Corp.
331 P.3d 1035 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2014)

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Bluebook (online)
418 P.3d 54, 290 Or. App. 801, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/saif-corp-v-carlos-macias-in-re-comp-of-carlos-macias-orctapp-2018.