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Cooper v. Chevron Corp.3/5/2003
FINDINGS OF FACT, CONCLUSIONS OF LAW AND JUDGMENT
Summary: Claimant suffered a work-related back injury in 1988 and underwent L5-S1 surgery in 1988 and 1990. Thereafter he had no verifiable medical care for his back until 1998. In 1998 he sought care for back pain, reporting he had injured his back "4-5 days ago." Over the next year and a half he obtained narcotics from several physicians, sometimes two or three simultaneously, and obtained narcotics on four occasions after reporting his drugs were stolen, reports that the Court finds were false. A December 1999 MRI was done but did not disclose an acute problem. In April 2001 claimant reported he suffered increased back pain while moving a washing machine. Within days he required hospitalization for pain and an MRI showed a large herniated disk impinging on a nerve root. Shortly thereafter he underwent surgery for the herniated disk.
Held: Medical testimony established that claimant suffered a new injury in April 2001, therefore the insurer is not liable for his April 2001 surgery or his subsequent care. With respect to medical treatment from1998 to April 2001, claimant has not provided persuasive evidence that the treatment was due to his 1988 injury. His medical treatment appears to have in great part been motivated by his desire for narcotics. Also, when initiating treatment in 1998, he indicated he had suffered a new injury while working in construction but at trial and in deposition he denied both that he was injured or that he was working in construction. His credibility was so undermined that the Court does not believe his denials. In any event, the claimant bears the burden of proof and he has not persuaded the Court that his medical care in 1998 and thereafter was due to his 1988 injury.
Topics:
Injury and Accident: Natural Progression. The insurer liable for a worker 's industrial injury is liable for treatment of the natural progression of that injury.
Injury and Accident: Causation. The insurer is not liable for subsequent conditions of the same body part which are caused by intervening events and not by the original injury.
Proof: Conflicting Evidence: Medical. Where an independent medical examiner testifies credibly that the claimant's recurrent herniated disk, which occurred eleven years after his first herniated disk, was caused by a subsequent, specific incident, and the facts provide support for that testimony, the Court is persuaded by the opinion where the only contrary opinion is a written one of a physician who did not mention the subsequent incident and may not have been aware of it.
The trial in this matter was held on February 20, 2003, in Helena, Montana. Petitioner, Anthony Cooper (claimant), was present and represented by Mr. Cameron Ferguson. Respondent, Chevron Corporation (Chevron), was represented by Mr. Joe C. Maynard.
Exhibits: Exhibits 1 through 54 were admitted without objection. Exhibit 55 was objected to on hearsay and irrelevancy grounds and withdrawn.
Witness and Depositions: The parties agreed that the depositions of Anthony Cooper and Thomas Dietrich, M.D. can be considered part of the record. The Court participated by telephone in Dr. Dietrich's deposition. Petitioner, Anthony Cooper, was sworn and testified.
Issues Presented: The issues as set forth in the Pretrial Order are:
1. Is Petitioner's recent medical treatment relating to his back caused by his injury of September 19, 1988?
2. Is Petitioner entitled to an award of attorney's fees under Sections 39-71-611 and 39-71-612?
3. Is Petitioner entitled to a 20% penalty pursuant to Mo
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