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Wal-Mart Stores2/26/2003
her to believe "they would not be able to hire him." She concluded, ultimately, that Caselman "has suffered a loss of access to the labor market of approximately 100%."
Caselman's wife and son also testified regarding the impact of his back injury on his daily activities. Once active and fun-loving, Caselman is now chronically tired and grouchy. He neither drinks nor smokes. Because pain disrupts his sleep, he and his wife no longer share the same bed, nor have they enjoyed normal sexual relations since his injury. Caselman had been an avid outdoorsman, for years devoting his time off the road to long hunting trips with his sons. Although he bought a hunting license in 1998, the season lasted only two hours for him. He reportedly could not endure the pain in his back and leg. With effort he does the family grocery shopping and yard work at a slow pace, activities which necessitate spending much of the rest of the day recovering on his back.
Further facts will be detailed as they relate to the issues on appeal.
B. Legal proceedings. Based on the record sketched above, the deputy workers' compensation commissioner found Caselman "suffered a 100 percent loss of his earning capacity as a result of the work injury " and, accordingly, found him entitled to permanent total disability benefits under Iowa Code section 85.34(3) (1999) "for the duration of his disability." The deputy also found that Wal-Mart mistakenly paid Caselman benefits based on Kansas law, rather than Iowa law, and did not repay the difference until months after the error was discovered. Evidently consistent with a pattern repeated in other cases, on a minimum of ten occasions Wal-Mart paid Caselman's benefit checks from four to eighteen days late. These unexplained delays prompted the deputy to award penalty benefits of $8000.
The deputy's decision was affirmed on intra-agency appeal. On Wal-Mart's subsequent petition for judicial review pursuant to Iowa Code chapter 17A, the district court adopted nearly verbatim Wal-Mart's brief, reversing the agency decision. This appeal by Caselman followed.
II. Scope of Review.
Our review under Iowa Code chapter 17A is for correction of errors at law, not de novo. Locate.Plus.Com, Inc. v. Iowa Dep't of Transp., 650 N.W.2d 609, 612 (Iowa 2002). At the outset, however, the parties disagree about the nature of that review. Chapter 17A was amended in 1998, with amendments "effective for agency action commenced after July 1, 1999." Id.; see 1998 Iowa Acts ch. 1202, § 46 (act "applicable to agency proceedings commenced on or after [July 1, 1999]"). Because Caselman filed his claim for benefits in August 1998, he argues the former version of chapter 17A should apply. Wal-Mart counters that the new version of the statute applies because the amended act's provisions pertaining to judicial review apply "to the agency action at the time it was taken." 1998 Iowa Acts ch. 1202, § 24 (now codified at Iowa Code § 17A.19(8)(b) (2001)). This would include the enlarged definition of "substantial evidence" which, Wal-Mart argues, demands more scrutiny than prior case law would suggest.
Wal-Mart has the better argument, at least on its first point. The statutory amendment pertaining to judicial review is consistent with the well-established rule that "statutes controlling appeals are those that were in effect at the time the judgment or order appealed from was rendered." Ontjes v. McNider, 224 Iowa 115, 118, 275 N.W. 328, 330 (1937); accord Giles v. State, 511 N.W.2d 622, 624 (Iowa 1994); James v. State, 479 N.W.2d 287, 290 (Iowa 1991). The deputy's decision, filed in November 1999, was affirmed by the agency in August 2000. Wal-Mart's petition
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