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Clayton v. Fleming Co.3/21/2000
ON CERTIORARI TO THE COURT OF CIVIL APPEALS, DIVISION 4
Claimant sought workers' compensation benefits for alleged accidental back injury . At trial for temporary disability and medical expenses, employer took the position that claimant's difficulties with his lumbar spine were caused by a worsening of a previously adjudicated injury rather than a new and separate injury. The Honorable Richard G. Mason, Judge of the Workers' Compensation Court, found that claimant did not sustain an injury as alleged and denied the claim. Claimant sought three-judge panel review asserting the trial judge failed to decide if he suffered a worsening of a previously adjudicated injury. The panel affirmed the trial judge's order. Claimant commenced this review proceeding. The Court of Civil Appeals reversed the trial judge's order for lack of decretal specificity and remanded with instructions. Employer timely filed a petition for certiorari review.
CERTIORARI PREVIOUSLY GRANTED;
OPINION OF THE COURT OF CIVIL APPEALS, DIVISION 4, IS VACATED;
ORDER OF THE JUDGE OF THE WORKERS' COMPENSATION COURT
DENYING THE CLAIM AND ORDER OF THE THREE-JUDGE PANEL AFFIRMING THE TRIAL JUDGE'S ORDER ARE SUSTAINED.
Two questions are presented on certiorari: (1) Was the trial judge's order denying the claim sufficiently definite and certain to allow for meaningful judicial review, and (2) Did the Court of Civil Appeals exceed its authority by mandating a procedure to be followed in all future "cases of this specific nature"? We answer both questions in the affirmative. Accordingly, we vacate the opinion of the Court of Civil Appeals, Division 4, and sustain the trial judge's November 6, 1997 order, affirmed by a three-judge panel of the Workers' Compensation Court.
I.
FACTUAL BACKGROUND
Robert Irvin Clayton (claimant) filed a Form 3 in the Workers' Compensation Court (WCC) alleging that he sustained an accidental, work-related injury to his low back on May 1, 1997. Fleming Companies, Inc. (employer) filed a Form 10 denying that claimant sustained an accidental injury arising out of and in the course of his employment. The trial court conducted an evidentiary hearing on claimant's request for temporary disability benefits and medical expenses.
At the hearing, claimant testified regarding the alleged accidental injury he sustained on May 1, 1997. According to claimant, he was moving computer equipment to a three-level production control display station for employer. The job required claimant to lift the computer monitors to the overhead level and connect the computer cables beneath the lowest level. More than four hours into the job, while claimant was crawling under the display station to connect the cables, he felt a burning pain in his back. At that point, claimant took a break and went to the parking lot to have a cup of coffee and a cigarette in his truck. As he exited his truck, claimant felt a pop and a burning pain in his back. Although his back was hurting, claimant continued working until the computers were reinstalled, and then he was permitted to leave work early. The next day he experienced severe pain in his back and secured medication from his family physician. Claimant did not return to work, and about a week later, he reported the injury to the director of his department. Employer placed claimant on short-term disability leave.
In support of his claim, claimant also offered a letter and a report from the surgeon who operated on his back in 1992. The letter advised that claimant experienced a reasonable recovery from a 1990 injury and subsequent 1992 surgery. The letter also indicated
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