Waste Mgmt. v. Cook

2015 Ark. App. 159
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arkansas
DecidedMarch 4, 2015
DocketCV-14-809
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 2015 Ark. App. 159 (Waste Mgmt. v. Cook) 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
Waste Mgmt. v. Cook, 2015 Ark. App. 159 (Ark. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

Cite as 2015 Ark. App. 159

ARKANSAS COURT OF APPEALS DIVISION III No. CV-14-809

WASTE MANAGEMENT and Opinion Delivered: March 4, 2015 GALLAGHER BASSETT SERVICES, INC. APPELLANTS APPEAL FROM THE ARKANSAS WORKERS’ COMPENSATION V. COMMISSION [Nos. G205370 and G301083] EDDIE COOK APPELLEE AFFIRMED

WAYMOND M. BROWN, Judge

Appellants appeal from the August 6, 2014 opinion of the Arkansas Workers’

Compensation Commission (Commission) reversing the opinion of the administrative law

judge (ALJ) by finding that appellee proved that he sustained a compensable injury to his

back on February 2, 2013, was entitled to temporary-total-disability benefits, and was

entitled to reasonably necessary medical treatment. On appeal, appellants’ sole argument is

that substantial evidence does not support the Commission’s decision that appellee proved

he sustained a compensable lower back injury. We affirm.

The pertinent facts in this case are as follows, as ascertained from testimony and

exhibits submitted below. Appellee sustained a compensable injury to his lumbar spine on

June 19, 2012. Appellants accepted the injury as compensable and paid for medical

treatment with Dr. Steven Cathey, which included a laminectomy and discectomy at L5-

S1 on the left on November 21, 2012. Dr. Cathey released appellee to return to work Cite as 2015 Ark. App. 134

without restrictions on January 21, 2013. 1 Dr. Cathey assigned appellee a ten percent

permanent-partial-impairment rating, which appellants accepted. At a follow-up

appointment on January 31, 2013, Dr. Cathey noted that appellee had returned to work,

but “could only work a few days because of increasing pain in his lower back.” Dr.

Cathey signed a return to work slip on February 1, 2013, permitting appellee to return to

work without restrictions on February 1, 2013. Appellee returned to work, but was not

allowed to resume operating heavy machinery.

On February 2, 2013, appellee tripped on a wire, causing him to fall onto a

bulldozer from which he rolled onto the ground onto his back. From that position, using

his radio, appellee contacted his lead operator, Jermaine Thomas. Thomas found appellee

lying on his back on the ground. Thomas helped appellee into the seat of the bulldozer.

Appellee complained of an inability to breathe, but was able to catch his breath while

sitting. Thomas offered to call an ambulance, but appellee declined, requesting more time

to “see if [he was] okay or if something’s wrong.” Appellee went to work operating the

bulldozer thereafter. Thomas returned to check on appellee periodically.

At some point, Thomas reported the incident to the operations manager, Daman

Stanford, who had Thomas bring appellee to the office. Appellee made a written

statement in which he noted that he “hit [his] chest” on the arms of the bulldozer’s blade,

which “[k]nocked the breath out of [him]—pain in chest.” He made no mention of any

back injury. The First Aid/Near Miss Report included a typed version of his written

statement and listed the body part affected as the left chest; no secondary body part was 1 On a return-to-work slip dated January 28, 2013, Dr. Cathey stated that appellee was to be off work until his reevaluation on January 31, 2013. 2 Cite as 2015 Ark. App. 134

listed. Additionally, Thomas also made a written statement advising that appellee had told

Thomas that appellee “was walking and tripped over a piece of wire and fell against the

arm of the dozer where he hit his chest.” Thomas’s statement made no mention of

appellee stating that he had injured his back. The First Report of Injury or Illness Form,

dated February 2, 2013, listed the type of injury as “contusion/strain” and noted that

appellee “sustained a contusion to chest wall and [lumbar] strain.” 2 At Stanford’s request,

appellee went to Concentra for medical care on the same date.

The transcription of appellee’s February 2, 2013 visit to Concentra listed his chief

complaint as being his chest; however, it noted that appellee “also stated that his low [sic]

back is hurting.” The transcription stated that there was “[n]o direct blow to [appellee’s]

back” and that appellee stated that he rolled off the bulldozer “onto his back.” 3 Appellee’s

assessment was for a chest wall contusion, a thoracic strain, and a lumbar strain. He was

diagnosed with a chest wall contusion and a lumbar strain. The record notes that appellee

was limited to sixty degrees of motion with pain in any direction. He was placed on

modified duty.

On February 5, 2013, appellee returned to Concentra where his assessment was the

same and it was noted that his degree of motion with pain now varied depending on the

2 The actual report states that appellee suffered from a “lombard strain;” however, this appears to be a spelling error. 3 Appellants contested this note at the hearing. 3 Cite as 2015 Ark. App. 134

direction, but the degree had decreased. 4 Accordingly, the number and nature of the

modifications on appellee’s modified duty were reduced.

Appellee returned to Concentra on February 12, 2013. The transcription thereof

states that appellee had stated that he was “approximately 50% better.” It noted that

appellee’s “[l]ow back is sore, but pain and radicular symptoms are unchanged” from

his previous injury and that appellee was “at his baseline for back pain.” 5 At a February 15,

2013 visit to Concentra, appellee reported that his chest was feeling much improved

overall, but that his chest wall was still sore. Appellee’s objective pain rating was seven on

a scale of one to ten, and his overall progress was as expected. A physician work activity

status report from Concentra, dated February 26, 2013, showed that appellee’s diagnoses

remained contusion of the chest wall and lumbar strain. Appellee was released to regular

duty. 6 At a March 5, 2013 visit to Concentra, appellee reported “increased leg pain with

prolonged sitting at work yesterday” and stated he was working regular activity. His

objective pain scale was five on a scale of one to ten with his overall progress being slower

than expected. Appellee was referred to Dr. Cathey for his lumbar strain diagnosis, but the

referral was denied by appellants.

4 The transcription read: “Flexion: 60 degrees with pain, extension: 10 degrees with pain, rotation right: 30 degrees with pain, rotation left: 30 degrees with pain, side bending right: 30 degrees with pain and side bending left: 30 degrees with pain tenderness of both paraspinous muscles at the level of L4, L5 and S1.” 5 Appellants also contested this note at the hearing. 6 An undated physician work activity status returned appellee to work on March 5, 2013, with the restrictions of no lifting over ten pounds and that he should be sitting 75% of the time. 4 Cite as 2015 Ark. App. 134

On March 8, 2013, appellants filed a Form AR-2 – Employer’s Intent to Accept or

Controvert Claim. In the “compensation” section, appellants listed “chest & lower back”

as the body parts injured. However, in their statement of position, they stated that they

had accepted a compensable injury to appellee’s chest, but were “denying a lower back

injury because of no new objective findings.”

Following the denial of his referral to Dr. Cathey, appellee went to see his family

doctor, Dr. Jack Fendley, on April 5, 2013. Dr. Fendley’s subjective findings were that

appellee was positive for back pain, noting that his discomfort was most prominent in the

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