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Clark v. State ex rel Wyoming Workers' Safety and Compensation Division12/21/2001
Appeal from the District Court of Natrona County The Honorable W. Thomas Sullins, Judge
[ ] In February 1999, appellant, Henry Clark, was injured in a work-related accident. The Wyoming Workers' Safety and Compensation Division (the Division) paid appellant benefits for an injury to his left foot, but denied benefits for a claimed back injury. Following a hearing, the hearing examiner found that appellant was not a credible witness, that any back injury was pre -existing at the time of appellant's accident, and that appellant failed to prove that his employment materially aggravated such injury. Appellant petitioned the district court to review the hearing examiner's findings. In a December 2000, order, the district court affirmed the hearing examiner's determination and this appeal followed. We affirm.
ISSUE
[ ] Appellant raises a single issue on appeal:
Whether the evidence and law support the Hearing Examiner's finding that Appellant's back condition was due to a pre-existing condition that began before this employment and that there had been no material aggravation of that pre-existing condition resulting in a new injury.
The Division, as appellee, phrases the issue in substantially the same manner.
FACTS
[ ] Appellant began his employment with Western Technology Services, Inc. (WOTCO) in 1974. In February 1999, appellant was employed as a saw operator; as such, he carried twenty-foot long steel "bar stock," weighing approximately 210 pounds, from its rack to a saw two hundred feet or so away. He then used the saw to cut the bar stock to a specified length. Appellant testified that at 8:00 a.m. on February 22, 1999, as he reached down to grab the last bar, the "bar came right back off that balance point, right down on my foot." Appellant claimed that he then fell backwards or "stacked up" onto his "posterior" and then his back, and landed on some steel plates, where he lost his hard hat. After lying on the ground for five minutes, appellant slowly "got up" and called the foreman. His foot was red, but "not bruised. It wasn't broke and it wasn't bleeding." He experienced "excruciating" left leg pain, but no back pain. According to appellant, he had experienced right leg pain for a year prior to February 22, 1999, but not pain in his left leg.
[ ] Appellant filled out an accident report dated March 1, 1999, stating that the "bar rolled off the rack and bounced off my left foot," but did not mention falling on his posterior or back. Appellant testified that he did not "put it down" because he did "a lot of falling backwards" and, despite including the term "over" and continuing his handwritten account on an additional sheet of paper that remained three-quarters blank, claimed not to have had "enough space to write all that story in there." The report also states that appellant experienced pain in the back of his left leg and, toward the end of the day, the small of appellant's back began to hurt and he could "barely walk."
[ ] Appellant's treating physician was Dr. Johnny Tooke. Dr. Tooke's September, October, and November 1994 records indicate that appellant was experiencing left knee and left leg pain. His February 4, 1998, and February 2 and 12, 1999, notations state appellant had cramps in his "legs." The records note that appellant was seen February 22, 1999, for back pain and further indicate that on February 26, 1999, appellant complained of periodic "sciatica" down the left leg and back pain, was unable to bend over, and could "hardly walk." Appellant was scheduled to undergo a lumbar spine MRI on March 4, 1999. It was not until March 12, 1999, that Dr. Tooke's records note appellant's
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