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Bailey v. State ex rel Wyoming Workers' Safety and Compensation Division9/30/2002
[ ] This is an appeal from a determination of the State of Wyoming, Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) denying neck and left knee related worker's compensation benefits. We affirm.
ISSUES
[ ] Appellant, Debra Bailey (Bailey), sets forth the following issues:
Was the decision of the Administrative Hearings Office arbitrary, capricious, or otherwise unlawful within the meaning of W.S. § 16-3-114(c)(ii)(A) in ruling that Appellant was not eligible for a Temporary Total Disability award?
Was the Office of Administrative Hearings' decision unsupported by substantial evidence in light of the fact that substantial expert evidence existed to support a contrary ruling as required by W.S. § 16-3-114(c)(ii)(E)?
Appellee, State of Wyoming ex rel. Wyoming Worker 's Compensation Division (Division), phrases the issue on appeal as:
Whether the Hearing Examiner erred in determining that Appellant failed to prove every element of her claim for benefits for her alleged neck and knee injuries.
FACTS
[ ] On July 18, 1999, Bailey leaped into the back end of a company pickup truck while working as a flagger/maintainer for S & L Industrial within a construction zone near Marbleton, Wyoming due to an oncoming vehicle. Immediately after this work accident, Bailey felt pain "all over" but most significantly in her right hand. Later that evening and into early the next morning, Bailey felt pain in her neck and experienced a headache. A few days after this incident, Bailey also began feeling pain in her left knee. Subsequently, Bailey received medical care for these injuries and was taken off work. Ultimately, Bailey was required to undergo surgery on the little finger on her right hand and her left knee. Bailey was also scheduled to have surgery on her neck, but this surgery did not then occur because Bailey declined at the last moment. Later, this surgical procedure was completed.
[ ] Prior to the work accident, Bailey had injured her left knee in 1992 requiring surgery. Hardware, which was placed in her knee during this surgery, was never subsequently removed contrary to medical advice. In addition, eighteen years earlier, Bailey injured her neck in Tampa, Florida when the car in which she was riding was rear-ended by another vehicle. Bailey experienced episodic neck pain from 1995 through 1999. In 1995, Bailey had an MRI performed on her neck. Finally, Bailey was involved in another automobile accident in May of 1999. Bailey's employer was notified prior to her employment that she had pre-existing back and neck problems and had been recently involved in an automobile accident.
[ ] After hearing, the OAH found that Bailey's little finger injury was a compensable injury. However, the OAH determined that Bailey's neck and left knee injuries were not compensable and denied coverage for those two claims. Bailey sought review of this decision in the district court, which affirmed the decision of the OAH. This appeal followed.
STANDARD OF REVIEW
[ ] Our standard of review when reviewing administrative agency action was recently clarified in the case of Newman v. State ex rel. Workers' Safety and Compensation Div., 2002 WY 91, 49 P.3d 163 (Wyo. 2002). In that case, we reiterated that when considering an appeal from a district court's review of agency action, we accord no special deference to the district court's conclusions and review the case as if it had come directly before this court from the administrative agency. Newman, at (citing French v. Amax Coal West, 960 P.2d 1023, 1027 (Wyo.1998)). We further recognized the applicability of Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 16-3-114(c) whi
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