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Gates v. John Deere Ottumwa Works12/23/1998
e, however, a claim for aggravation must relate to a viable claim for benefits. See Iowa Code § 85.26(1) (authorizing claim for additional benefits within three years if weekly benefits already being paid); § 85.26(2) (authorizing review of award upon timely commencement of review-reopening proceedings). By early 1988 Gates knew of his back injury and its compensable nature, yet he made no claim for benefits under section 85.26 until January 1993. He cites no authority for the proposition that aggravation damages caused by treatment of an otherwise non-compensable injury will revive the original time-barred claim. The assignment of error is without merit.
C. Cumulative trauma.
Gates also claims the record supports a finding by the industrial commissioner that the aseptic necrosis of his hip joints developed over time due to persistent standing on concrete floors at the John Deere factory. The claim simply has no legal or factual basis in this record.
Gates correctly states that when a claimant sustains a cumulative trauma injury , the "occurrence" date for purposes of calculating the two-year statute of limitations under section 85.26 is the date when the disability manifests itself. George A. Hormel & Co. v. Jordan, 569 N.W.2d 148, 151 (Iowa 1997). "Manifestation" means the date when both the fact of the injury and the injury's causal relationship to the claimant's employment would be plainly apparent to a reasonable person. Id.
As already discussed, the industrial commissioner found that Gates' injury -involving not only his back but his hips and legs-manifested itself long before he was diagnosed with aseptic necrosis in March 1991. More importantly, the record substantially supports the Conclusion that the aseptic necrosis stemmed from improperly administered steroid injections, not cumulative trauma to the hip joints. It is true, as Gates suggests, that the record contains testimony to the effect that, following a fracture or other trauma, repeated standing may lead to the development of necrosis. But we are bound by the findings actually made, not those the fact finder could have made. See Terwilliger, 529 N.W.2d at 271. No reversible error appears.
AFFIRMED.
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