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Color Country Management v. Labor Commission12/6/2001
total disability claims should have been dismissed at the first hearing, and because these issues were not dismissed, the Commission "exceeded its adjudicative authority and denied [Color Country's] due process rights to a meaningful hearing." We reject this argument.
The ALJ's January 8, 1998 order awarded only temporary total disability benefits and expressly reserved ruling on the permanent partial and permanent total disability issues because Thomas had not reached medical stability. Workers' compensation claims are best viewed as a process, rather than as a discrete event, and the Commission had continuing jurisdiction over Thomas's claims. See Utah Code Ann. § 35-1-78(1) (1994) (currently codified at Utah Code Ann. § 34A-2-420(1) (1997)); Continental Casualty Co. v. Indus. Comm'n, 79 Utah 532, 11 P.2d 329, 337 (1932) (stating that a single application for benefits gives Commission plenary jurisdiction to determine eligibility for all forms of benefits). Furthermore, we fail to see how Color Country was prejudiced by the ALJ's actions because there was no award of permanent partial disability made until six months after the January 1998 order, and there was no permanent total disability award made until eight months after the January 1998 order.
The second due process argument focuses on the procedures used by the Commission. Color Country claims that the Commission deprived it of a meaningful opportunity to be heard by the manner in which the evidence was considered. Color Country claims it did not have adequate notice that the Commission would consider the permanent partial and permanent total disability issues without an additional hearing or post-hearing opportunities to submit additional evidence by both parties. In addition, Color Country complains that the Commission violated its due process rights when the first ALJ allowed Thomas to submit "post-hearing evidence regarding her impairment rating and work restrictions." Color Country also complains that the second ALJ violated its due process rights by failing to consider certain evidence submitted by it and by failing to appoint a medical panel.
Under Utah Code Ann. § 35-1-88 (1994), the Commission is not bound by the usual rules of evidence or any formal rules of procedure. Although proceedings for workers' compensation claims are very informal and of their own kind or class, the proceedings still must satisfy basic notions of fairness. See Utah Fuel Co. v. Indus. Comm'n, 59 Utah 46, 201 P. 1034, 1034-35 (1921). After a careful review of the record, we conclude that the procedures utilized here did not deprive Color Country of notice or a meaningful opportunity to be heard. As we noted above, the permanent partial and permanent total awards were first made six and eight months, respectively, after the January 6, 1998 hearing. Both parties submitted additional medical and other evidence and directed arguments to the ALJ after the first hearing, and there was no objection made to this informal process while it was going on.
In addition, the second ALJ, in his June 14, 2000 order, reviewed all the evidence, including the functional capacity evaluation (FCE) by Michael Meek and the independent medical examination (IME) by Dr. Root. Thus, even if, as Color Country argues, the first ALJ failed to consider evidence submitted by Color Country, there were two more independent analyses of all the evidence submitted in this case: one by the second ALJ after the March 8, 2000 hearing and again by the Board on Color Country's motion for review, and we fail to see how Color Country was denied due process of law here. See Vali Convalescent & Care Inst. v. Indus. Comm'n, 649 P.2d 33, 36 (Utah 1982) (stating th
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