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Appeal of Walker9/8/1999
NOTICE: This opinion is subject to motions for rehearing under Rule 22 as well as formal revision before publication in the New Hampshire Reports. Readers are requested to notify the Clerk/Reporter, Supreme Court of New Hampshire, Supreme Court Building, Concord, New Hampshire 03301, of any errors in order that corrections may be made before the opinion goes to press. Opinions are available on the Internet by 9:00 a.m. on the morning of their release. The direct address of the court's home page is: http://www.state.nh.us/courts/supreme.htm
Compensation Appeals Board
The petitioner, Jessica Walker, appeals the decision of the New Hampshire Compensation Appeals Board (board) denying her claim for workers' compensation benefits. On appeal, the petitioner argues that (1) the board's decision was contrary to the weight of the evidence, and (2) the board erred if it concluded that a pre-existing condition was the cause of her back complaints and resulting surgery. We vacate and remand.
In June 1993, the petitioner allegedly injured her back when she slipped and fell on a wet floor while working as a waitress for the respondent, Newick's Lobster House, Inc. She apparently landed first on her head and then on her back and buttocks. She was treated by numerous physicians for complaints relating to her upper body and back. The petitioner alleges that the pain to her upper body was more severe during the first few months following the accident, and that as the pain to her upper body subsided, the pain in her low back became more intense and debilitating.
The respondent voluntarily paid the petitioner temporary total disability benefits for her head and neck injuries but denied benefits for her back injury. The department of labor hearing officer ruled that the petitioner failed to prove that her back problems were causally related to her 1993 work injury. At a later hearing, the hearing officer ruled that the petitioner's head and neck injuries were not disabling and terminated her benefits. The petitioner appealed the decision concerning her back injury to the board, which denied her claim. The petitioner's motion for rehearing was denied, and this appeal followed.
I.
We first consider the petitioner's argument that the board's decision constituted reversible error because it was against the weight of the evidence. "We will not disturb the board's decision absent an error of law, or unless by a clear preponderance of the evidence we find it to be unjust or unreasonable." Appeal of Demeritt, 142 N.H. 807, 810, 713 A.2d 378, 380 (1998); see RSA 541:13 (1997).
To make out a claim for workers' compensation benefits, the petitioner must prove both legal and medical causation by a preponderance of the evidence. See Appeal of Kehoe, 141 N.H. 412, 416, 686 A.2d 749, 752 (1996). "Legal causation entails a showing that the [petitioner's] injury is in some way work-related, while medical causation requires a showing that the injury was actually caused by the work-related event or condition." Id. Because the board did not make clear whether it rejected the petitioner's claim for back injuries on the basis of legal or medical causation, we address whether the board's order is sufficient on either ground. We review legal causation first.
"The legal causation test defines the degree of exertion that is necessary to make the injury work-connected. The test to be used depends upon the previous health of the employee." Id. (citation and quotations omitted). "Where there is no pre-existing condition, any work-related activity connected with the injury as a matter of medical fact would be sufficient to show legal causation." Id. (emphasis
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