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Hall v. State ex rel Wyoming Workers' Compensation Division12/28/2001
W.R.A.P. 12.09(b) Certification from the District Court of Teton County The Honorable D. Terry Rogers, Judge
[ ] This appeal presents the issue of whether Appellant Denise Hall, who was seeking worker 's compensation benefits, failed in her burden of proving causation when two of her treating physicians testified that her lower back pain symptoms were caused by a 1997 uncontested work-related accident. After Hall established that a type of spinal fracture known as a pars defect was causing her back pain, the Wyoming Workers' Compensation Division relied on evidence that a pars defect as well as other lower back injuries had existed since Hall was injured in a 1995 non-work related automobile accident. The hearing examiner denied worker 's compensation benefits for failure of proof.
[ ] Our review of the entire record does not show that Hall provided sufficient evidence establishing causation, and we affirm the order denying benefits.
ISSUES
[ ] Hall presents this statement of the issues:
I. Did the hearing examiner err as a matter of law when, contrary to this Court's decision in Pino v. State, 996 P.2d 679 (Wyo. 2000), which provides that an employee/claimant's physicians only need testify that a workplace accident "contributed to," "probably," or "most likely" caused an injury, he disregarded the testimony of two physicians--who undisputedly satisfied this standard--because they did not testify to a "high degree of surety?"
II. Is the order denying benefits supported by substantial evidence when, on the one hand, employee/claimant's testimony and the testimony of two physicians supported her claim while, on the other, no physician testified for the Division, but instead, it relied on speculation and inferences drawn from ambiguous medical records?
The Division contends that the sole issue for our review is:
1. Did the hearing examiner correctly determine that Appellant failed to prove every element of her claim?
FACTS
[ ] Hall was injured in a work-related accident on December 3, 1997. She sought medical treatment from Dr. Franklin Rivers on the same day of the accident, and typed notes from that visit stated that she complained of "pain in the neck, primarily the right side and multiple contusions and abrasions obvious over the right side of her torso and right leg." The doctor's notes also referred her for three chiropractic treatments in the next week. Dr. Rivers ordered x-rays of Hall's cervical spine but none were taken of her lower back. Dr. John Zendler, a chiropractor, also examined Hall on December 3, 1997, and documented "lower back complaints as well as upper back and neck complaints." Dr. Zendler continued to treat Hall through January of 1999. Dr. Ron Gooder testified that on Hall's several visits to him between June and November of 1997, he did not treat Hall for back pain. He did not treat her after her work-related accident; however Dr. Gooder did treat Hall for back pain on July 28, 1998, and his notes indicated that Hall was suffering from chronic muscle back pain at least partly aggravated by work.
[ ] Hall filed for benefits and, initially, the Division paid them. Benefit payments are not in the record on appeal; however, the Division asserts that it paid thousands of dollars in uncontested medical benefits until April 21, 1999, when it denied a $400.00 claim and Hall's request for temporary total disability benefits. Hall objected to these denials, and a hearing followed.
[ ] Hall presented medical reports and the testimony of Drs. Zendler and Gooder. The evidence showed that after her 1997 work-related accident, Hall received a
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