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MONROE v. GENERAL MOTORS CORP.6/22/1989
This is an appeal from a decision by the district court denying appellant Charles Eldon Monroe's claim for workers' compensation benefits.
The claim was first heard by an administrative law judge, who denied it in its entirety. This decision was appealed to the workers' compensation director, who reversed the administrative law judge and awarded claimant compensation for a 100% work disability. The director's award was then appealed to the district court, which reversed the director, reinstated the decision of the administrative law judge, and denied the claim for compensation.
The claimant had suffered from a chronic problem in his lower back for many years, which necessitated surgery in 1981. Claimant testified that in October 1982 he reinjured or aggravated his lower back condition while on the job for the respondent installing struts on automobiles, a job which the evidence showed required a great deal of bending or twisting. The claimant indicated that when he reinjured his back he mentioned this fact to his foreman but did not see anyone at the plant medical facility. The record indicates that, although the claimant contends that his back condition was aggravated in October 1982, for several months following this injury claimant was seeing an orthopedic surgeon for problems relating to injuries to his elbows. He did not mention his back condition to this physician on any of his 11 visits until ten months after the back injury had allegedly been suffered. Claimant was forced to leave his employment with respondent primarily because of the injuries to his elbows, for which he also pursued a workers' compensation claim. He has been awarded a 100% disability award because of the elbow condition.
In support of his position, the claimant presented his own testimony and that of two orthopedic surgeons, both of whom testified that, in their opinion, claimant had sustained a compensable injury when he aggravated his back condition in October 1982. The respondent presented the testimony of its own expert orthopedic surgeon, who had examined the claimant and
who testified that, in his opinion, the claimant's back problems were neither caused by nor aggravated by the incident he described as having taken place in October 1982.
The claimant first argues that the district court erred in not affirming the award of the director as being supported by substantial competent evidence. It is the position of claimant that the district court may no longer conduct a de novo review in workers' compensation cases because this standard of review was limited by the Act for Judicial Review and Civil Enforcement of Agency Actions (KJRA), K.S.A. 77-601 et seq., to determining whether the director's award is supported by substantial competent evidence.
The claimant argues that workers' compensation appeals are now governed by K.S.A. 77-621, which reads as follows:
"(a) Except to the extent that this act or another statute provides otherwise:
"(1) The burden of proving the invalidity of agency action is on the party asserting invalidity; and
"(2) the validity of agency action shall be determined in accordance with the standards of judicial review provided in this section, as applied to the agency action at the time it was taken.
"(b) The court shall make a separate and distinct ruling on each material issue on which the court's decision is based.
"(c) The court shall grant relief only if it determines any one or more of the following:
"(1) The agency action, or the statute or rule and regulation on which the agency acti
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