Decision date: March 21, 20069 pages
Summary
The Labor and Industrial Relations Commission affirmed the Administrative Law Judge's award denying compensation in a workers' compensation case involving an employee who fell off a ladder while working as an electrician on March 23, 2006. Although the injury to the right knee and low back was found to be compensable and work-related, no benefits were awarded due to findings in favor of the employer and insurer regarding medical causation, future medical care, and disability.
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Third-Party Injury Check
(Affirming Award and Decision of Administrative Law Judge)
Injury No.: 00-034896
Employee: Stephen G. Reece
Employer: K. B. Hart Electric, Inc.
Insurer: Federated Mutual Insurance Company
Additional Party: Treasurer of Missouri as Custodian of Second Injury Fund
Date of Accident: Alleged March 23, 2006
Place and County of Accident: Alleged St. Charles County, Missouri
The above-entitled workers' compensation case is submitted to the Labor and Industrial Relations Commission for review as provided by section 287.480 RSMo. Having reviewed the evidence and considered the whole record, the Commission finds that the award of the administrative law judge is supported by competent and substantial evidence and was made in accordance with the Missouri Workers' Compensation Act. Pursuant to section 286.090 RSMo, the Commission affirms the award and decision of the administrative law judge dated October 5, 2005, and awards no compensation in the above-captioned case.
The award and decision of Administrative Law Judge Kevin Dinwiddie, issued October 5, 2005, is attached and incorporated by this reference.
Given at Jefferson City, State of Missouri, this 21st day of March 2006.
LABOR AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS COMMISSION
William F. Ringer, Chairman
Alice A. Bartlett, Member
Attest: John J. Hickey, Member
Secretary
Employee: Stephen G. Reece
Injury No. 00-034896
| Dependents: | Before the DIVISION OF WORKERS' COMPENSATION Department of Labor and Industrial Relations of Missouri Jefferson City, Missouri | |
| Employer: | K. B. Hart Electric, Inc. | |
| Add. Party: | State Treasurer, as Custodian of the Second Injury Fund | |
| Insurer: | Federated Mutual Insurance Company | |
| Hearing Date: | June 21, 2005; finally submitted 7/21/05 | Checked by: |
| KD:bfb (by df) | ||
| FINDINGS OF FACT AND RULINGS OF LAW | ||
| 1. | Are any benefits awarded herein? No | |
| 2. | Was the injury or occupational disease compensable under Chapter 287? Yes | |
| 3. | Was there an accident or incident of occupational disease under the Law? Yes | |
| 4. | Date of accident or onset of occupational disease: 3/23/00 | |
| 5. | State location where accident occurred or occupational disease was contracted: St. Charles County, MO | |
| 6. | Was above employee in employ of above employer at time of alleged accident or occupational disease? Yes | |
| 7. | Did employer receive proper notice? Yes | |
| 8. | Did accident or occupational disease arise out of and in the course of the employment? Yes | |
| 9. | Was claim for compensation filed within time required by Law? Yes | |
| 10. | Was employer insured by above insurer? Yes | |
| 11. | Describe work employee was doing and how accident occurred or occupational disease contracted: Employee suffered a fall off of a ladder while working as an electrician. | |
| 12. | Did accident or occupational disease cause death? No Date of death? n/a | |
| 13. | Part(s) of body injured by accident or occupational disease: Right knee and low back | |
| 14. | Nature and extent of any permanent disability: See award. | |
| 15. | Compensation paid to-date for temporary disability: $8,822.80 | |
| 16. | Value necessary medical aid paid to date by employer/insurer? $10,874.92 | |
| 17. | Value necessary medical aid not furnished by employer/insurer? n/a | |
| 18. | Employee's average weekly wages: $842.18 | |
| 19. | Weekly compensation rate: $561.45/$303.01 | |
| 20. | Method wages computation: By agreement of the parties | |
| COMPENSATION PAYABLE | ||
| 21. | Amount of compensation payable: | |
| The issues as to medical causation, future medical care, permanent disability and temporary total disability are found in favor of the employer and insurer. See award. | ||
| 22. | Second Injury Fund liability: The claim as against the Second Injury Fund is denied. See award. |
Said payments to begin and to be payable and be subject to modification and review as provided by law.
Employee: Stephen G. Reece
Injury No: 00-034896
Before the DIVISION OF WORKERS' COMPENSATION
Department of Labor and Industrial Relations of Missouri
Jefferson City, Missouri
Dependents:
Employer: K. B. Hart Electric, Inc.
Add. Party: State Treasurer, as Custodian of the Second Injury Fund
Insurer: Federated Mutual Insurance Company
Checked by: KD:bfb (by df)
The claimant, Mr. Stephen G. Reece; the employer and its insurer, K B Hart Electric Inc. and Federated Mutual Insurance Company; and the State Treasurer, as Custodian of the Second Injury Fund, appeared at hearing by and through their counsel and entered in to certain stipulations and agreements as to the issues and evidence to be presented in this claim for compensation. The parties acknowledge that the issues to be resolved at hearing are as follows:
Medical causation;
Future medical care;
Temporary total disability;
Permanent disability; and
Liability of the Second Injury Fund
Mr. Reece appeared at hearing and testified on his own behalf. The claimant further submitted the deposition testimony of Drs. Raymond Cohen and Jay Liss, and of Mr. James England. The employer and insurer submitted the deposition testimony of Dr. Marvin R. Mishkin.
The hearsay objection of the Second Injury Fund to Claimant's Exhibit H was sustained at hearing. The hearsay objection made to Claimant's Exhibit Y was also sustained, offer of proof made. The following exhibits are in evidence:
A. Certified medical records of SSM Corporate Health
B. Certified medical records of St. Joseph Health Center
C. Medical records of Anthony J. Berni, M.D.
D. Certified medical records of St. Joseph Health Center (right knee)
E. Certified records of St. Charles Sports \& Physical Therapy, Inc.
F. Certified medical records of Northwest Internist (Dr. Bonsanti)
G. Certified medical records of DePaul Health Center (MRI\}
I. Operative report of Dr. James T. Merenda (back)
J. Certified medical records of James T. Merenda, M.D.
K. Certified medical records of James T. Merenda, M.D.
L. Certified medical records of Pain Management Services (Dr. Smith)
M. Report of Richard M. Di Valerio, M.D., dated 9/05/02
N. Certified medical records of St. Louis Medical Clinic (Dr. Di Valerio)
O. St. John's Mercy Medical Center MRI dated 9/20/02
P. St. Luke's Hospital Cervical MRI dated 7/03/02
Q. Certified medical records of Neurosurgical Associates (Dr. Polinsky)
R. Certified records of St. Charles Sports \& Physical Therapy
S. Certified medical records of St. Peters Bone \& Joint Surgery
T. Barnes-Jewish St. Peters Hospital operative note date 8/12/99 (left knee)
U. Deposition of Dr. Raymond Cohen taken on 3/3/05
V. Deposition of Dr. Jay Liss taken on 12/10/04
W. Deposition of James England taken on 9/23/04
X. Letters from Jeffrey P. Gault to Mr. E. Thomas Liese
No offers made on behalf of the Second Injury Fund.
The claimant is 56 years old, and has been employed for over thirty years as an electrician, performing mostly industrial and commercial electrical work. The work performed by Mr. Reece included climbing ladders, getting under floors, and often involved overhead reaching to install conduit and lighting. Mr. Reece worked out of a union hiring hall, and could spend anywhere from a matter of weeks or years with the same employer.
Mr. Reece suffered a fall on 3/23/00 while installing lights and conduits at the site of new dorm room construction at Lindenwood College in St. Charles, Missouri. Claimant recalls that he fell from the second or third rung of his ladder
after it collapsed, and testified that while unable to recall what part of him struck the ground, he does recall falling against either the ground or a wall.
Claimant recalls suffering from knee and back pain, and reporting the accident that same day to his foreman. Mr. Reece recalls that he was sore but was able to finish his shift. Claimant testified that he had pain in his back and leg that made it difficult to sleep that night, and was subsequently referred by his employer to SSM Corporate Health.
Medical records from SSM Corporate Health (Claimant's Exhibit A) indicate that the claimant first treated for his complaints on 3/27/00. The claimant was returned to limited duty, no stair climbing or squatting, for what was diagnosed as a right knee strain. Physical therapy did not improve his condition, and an MRI taken on 4/10/00 (Claimant's Exhibit B) was interpreted as revealing a tear and degenerative change of the posterior horn of the medical meniscus. There is nothing in the medical record of SSM Corporate Health to document any history of complaint or treatment with respect to a low back complaint.
Claimant was then referred to Dr. Berni for an orthopedic evaluation of the right knee. On 4/26/00 Dr. Berni performed surgery for posterior medial and lateral meniscus tears, and for chondromalacia of the patella femoral joint and medial femoral condyle. Claimant followed up with Dr. Berni thereafter, and received physical therapy and a series of cortisone shots for complaint of knee pain. In his note dated August 3, 2000, Dr. Berni notes, in part: "I have discussed the risks concerning his knee pain. I feel that this is mostly due to his arthritis at this point, this has certainly been flared up by his injury and whether or not he is in a rapidly progressive phase of his arthritis is unclear to me..... Again, the chondromalacia/arthritic changes in his knee have been occuring over a long period of time during which he was fairly asymptomatic" (Claimant's Exhibit C). Mr. Reece was off of work and receiving temporary total disability benefits from 3/24/00 through 7/11/00. In May of 2000, while off of work following his knee surgery, Mr. Reece filed his original claim for compensation, alleging injury to his right knee and leg (Employer and Insurer's Exhibit No. 1).
Claimant relates that he complained of back pain and of weakness in his legs, but recalls that Dr. Berni would only treat as to his knee. The first documentation to suggest that Mr. Reece had back complaints is not a treatment record, but rather is in a letter dated 10/10/00 from Jeffrey P. Gault, counsel to Mr. Reece, requesting that the employer provide treatment for back complaint that claimant relates to his fall on 3/23/00 (Claimant's Exhibit X).
The first documented treatment related to the low back post the 3/23/00 accident is contained within the records of the claimant's personal physician, Dr. Bonsanti. On or about 12/1/00 the claimant was complaining of low back pain, and was referred for x-ray of the lumbar spine. An x-ray of the lumbar spine taken at DePaul Health Center on 12/01/00 was interpreted as showing "INTERSPACE NARROWING AND HYPERTROPHIC DEGENERATIVE OSTEOARTHRITIC CHANGES". The study further noted "There is almost complete loss of the L4-5 interspace with some eburnation of the opposing bony surfaces and hypertrophic bony overgrowth at the anterior margin of the L4-5 vertebral bodies." Dr. Bonsanti also referred the claimant for an MRI of the lumbar spine, performed on 1/20/01 at DePaul Health Center (Claimant's Exhibit G). The MRI was interpreted as follows:
The claimant made repeated requests for treatment from the employer prior to an ev
Full decision text continues in the plain-text archive copy.
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December 20, 2018#12-100528
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August 22, 2018#16-051794
The Commission affirmed the administrative law judge's award allowing workers' compensation benefits to employee Lois McDowell for injuries sustained from catching a two-wheeled cart on a doorway and falling in the hospital parking garage. A dissenting opinion argued the injury was not causally connected to employment because the risk of falling was equally present in normal nonemployment life.
January 25, 2018#14-077425
The Commission affirmed the administrative law judge's award granting workers' compensation benefits to Gale Hardwick for a fall injury sustained on October 9, 2014, while working at a Conagra Foods facility. The employee was determined to be totally and permanently disabled and is entitled to permanent total disability benefits of $486.17 per week beginning May 8, 2015.