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Weishaar v. Snap-On Tools Corp.7/29/1998
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Kossuth County, Charles H. Barlow, Judge.
Appeal and cross-appeal in workers' compensation case. AFFIRMED ON APPEAL; REVERSED ON CROSS-APPEAL; AND REMANDED WITH DIRECTIONS.
This appeal is the latest in a long series of workers' compensation proceedings involving Sandra Weishaar and her former employer, Snap-On Tools Corporation. Snap-On asserts that all of Weishaar's present claims are precluded by an earlier ruling by the industrial commissioner and the district court erred when it ruled otherwise. Snap-On also complains that the district court erred in setting the compensation rate for one of the injuries. Weishaar contends, in a cross-appeal, that the district court erroneously limited her evidence concerning a cumulative injury and erroneously computed her benefits. We affirm on Snap-On's appeal, reverse on Weishaar's cross-appeal, and remand.
I. Facts and Judicial Proceedings.
Sandra Weishaar was employed as a materials handler at Snap-On Tools between 1978 and 1991. In 1985 she began to develop pain and irritation in her hands and eventually underwent carpal tunnel surgery. She also developed shoulder and back pain. Her doctors placed restrictions on her work and required her to be routed to easier jobs.
On May 1, 1987, Weishaar filed a workers' compensation petition, alleging that she had sustained an injury to her shoulders and arms and had been disabled periodically since 1985. She sought temporary and permanent disability compensation and healing-period benefits. A deputy industrial commissioner issued an arbitration decision on Weishaar's claims on July 13, 1989. The deputy found that Weishaar had incurred a bilateral carpal tunnel injury on September 3, 1985, and awarded benefits for impairment to her body as a whole. In the part of the ruling that Snap-On now relies on to establish res judicata, the deputy found that Weishaar's shoulder and back disability was not causally connected to an injury of April 29, 1986.
Weishaar appealed. The industrial commissioner found in part that Weishaar "failed to prove she received any work-related shoulder or back injury for the injury dates alleged," and that her back and shoulder conditions were not the result of the carpal tunnel injury.
Weishaar petitioned for judicial review. The district court remanded for the commissioner to consider additional evidence in the record regarding the shoulder/back injury . Weishaar appealed, and the court of appeals affirmed in part and reversed in part. Weishaar v. Snap-On Tools Corp., 506 N.W.2d 786 (Iowa App. 1993). On the issue relevant to the current appeal, the court of appeals affirmed the finding of the industrial commissioner that Weishaar did not sustain a permanent impairment to her back or shoulders. Id. at 790.
Meanwhile, on July 27, 1989, Weishaar filed the ten new petitions that are the subject of the present appeal. In November 1994, a deputy industrial commissioner ruled that the first nine claims, alleging specific dates of injury , were res judicata because they had been decided in the case decided by the court of appeals in 1993. The deputy awarded limited benefits under the tenth petition, which claimed a cumulative injury. Weishaar appealed. The industrial commissioner affirmed, on res judicata grounds, as to the first nine petitions; on the tenth, the commissioner awarded limited benefits for Weishaar's cumulative injury.
Weishaar again sought judicial review. The district court ruled that res judicata did not apply and remanded for a hearing on the merits and a determination of the proper compensation rate. The district court generally affirmed th
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