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Hall v. State ex rel Wyoming Workers' Compensation Division12/28/2001
number of treatments for lower back pain. On September 22, 1998, Hall sought medical treatment for lower back pain after a softball game and again on October 18, 1998, after a semi-trailer truck door struck her. An x-ray taken after the latter incident indicated that she had suffered a bilateral pars defect at the L-5 vertebrae. Dr. Zendler testified that Hall had not reported having suffered any previous lower back complaints before her work-related injury in 1997, and, based on this absence of lower back pain, he concluded that the bilateral fracture was sustained during the 1997 work-related accident. Dr. Zendler did not believe that the bilateral pars defect was caused by the truck door striking Hall because mild degeneration associated with it indicated an older injury.
[ ] The Division established that Hall had suffered a lower back injury in a car accident in 1995. It presented MRI films taken of Hall's lower back in 1995 showing a pars defect at L-5, and medical records indicating a number of treatments for lower back pain and a diagnosis of spondylolisthesis.
[ ] The hearing examiner issued an order finding that Hall was injured while within the scope of her employment on December 3, 1997, and treated for neck pain and contusions over the right side of her torso and right leg as a result of her injury . She had x-rays taken of the cervical area of her spine, and the treating doctor prescribed chiropractic treatment and released her from work. It found that Hall was requesting medical benefits for lower back pain; she had been treated for low back pain prior to December 3, 1997, and diagnosed with spondylolisthesis at L5-S1 and disc protrusion at L4-L5 as early as 1995. The order further found " he treating doctor of Employee/Claimant cannot say with a high degree of surety that er low back pain and current treatment is related to her injury in December, 1997." The order found that Hall "argues her symptoms had all resolved prior to her injury in December, 1997, and that her present condition stems from the December, 1997 injury." The order stated that "Employee/Claimant has a history of back problems which have required medical treatment on numerous occasions both prior to December 1997, and subsequently. She has not established by a preponderance of the evidence that the treatment she is requesting is directly related to the one injury that occurred in December, 1997."
[ ] In its conclusion of law, the hearing examiner stated that Hall had not met her burden of proof "establishing a medical condition she currently has is related to the injury of December 3, 1997," and denied the claim for medical benefits and temporary total disability. The district court certified the case to this Court pursuant to W.R.A.P. 12.09.
DISCUSSION
Standard of Review
[ ] When the party charged with the burden of proof has failed to meet that burden, we review the case under the arbitrary, capricious, abuse-of-discretion, or otherwise-not-in-accordance-with-law standard. Keck v. State ex rel. Wyo. Workers' Safety and Comp. Div., 985 P.2d 430, 432 (Wyo. 1999); City of Casper v. Utech, 895 P.2d 449, 452 (Wyo. 1995). Under the arbitrary, capricious and abuse-of-discretion standard, we are charged with examining the entire record. Wyo. Stat. Ann. ยง 16-3-114(c) (LexisNexis 2001); Utech, 895 P.2d at 452.
[ ] In our examination and review of a hearing examiner's determination, we defer to the hearing examiner's findings of fact. We will examine conflicting and contradictory evidence to see if the hearing examiner reasonably could have made its findings based on all the evidence before it. The findings of fact may include determinations of witness
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