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Davenport v. City and County of Honolulu12/30/2002
y in light of the claimant's condition. Id. at 32 (footnotes and citations omitted).
In Korsak, 94 Hawaii 297, 12 P.3d 1238, we held that, in light of the remedial nature of the worker's compensation statute, "HRS § 386-85 creates a presumption in favor of the claimant that the subsequent injury is causally related to the primary injury." Id. at 301, 12 P.3d at 1248. Thus, the burden is on the employer to rebut the presumption that the secondary injury is causally related to the primary injury. Id. Here, Davenport argued to the Board and on appeal that the April 1995 hypertension injury developed from his prior Achilles tendon and related stress injuries that occurred in May 1994, which were held to be compensable. Thus, the burden was on the Department to prove otherwise. The Board failed to make any findings on this issue, however, because it erroneously maintained that the April 1995 injury was not work-related since it was caused by a medical examination conducted while Davenport was on sick leave.
We agree with the ICA regarding its analysis of Davenport's hypertension injury and hold that the Board erred by failing to make any findings of fact regarding the relationship of the hypertension to the Achilles tendon injury. The ICA cited HRS § 91-12 (1993), which provides that the Board must make findings and rulings that are reasonably clear, and the court should not be left to speculate as to the findings of an administrative agency. Id. Thus, the ICA had no basis upon which to review the pertinent issues. Davenport I, No. 23141, slip op. at 33-34. We therefore affirm the ICA's decision to remand the issue of compensability of Davenport's April 1995 hypertension claim to the Board for a redetermination of whether the injury was a direct and natural result of the Achilles tendon and related stress injuries.
V. CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the ICA's determination of Davenport's January 1994 injury and hold that the injury is compensable under the unitary test. We also affirm the ICA's decision to vacate the Board's determination of Davenport's April 1995 hypertension claim and remand for a redetermination of the issue of compensability.
CONCURRING OPINION OF ACOBA, J.
I concur in granting the application for a writ of certiorari filed by Petitioner/Employer-Appellee City and County of Honolulu, Honolulu Fire Department (the Department). I write additionally with respect to that part of the opinion of the Intermediate Court of Appeals (ICA) which relied upon and applied the 1998 amended version of Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS) § 386-3 (Supp. 2000) to this case. See Davenport v. City & County of Honolulu, Honolulu Fire Dept., No. 23141, slip op. at 2 n.1, 17-29 (Haw. Ct. App. Dec. 13, 2001) [hereinafter, the ICA's opinion]. Because the alleged work injuries suffered by Respondent/Claimant-Appellant David K. Davenport occurred prior to the 1998 amendment, that amendment did not apply; rather, the version of HRS § 386-3 then in effect governed. However, whereas the 1998 amendment would not affect stress-related claims resulting from non-disciplinary actions such as those filed by Davenport, the result reached by the ICA was correct.
I.
The 1985 version of HRS § 386-3 provided as follows:
Injuries covered.
If an employee suffers personal injury either by accident arising out of and in the course of the employment or by disease proximately caused by or resulting from the nature of the employment, the employee's employer or the special compensation fund shall pay compensation to the employee or the employee's dependents as hereinafter provided.
Accide
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