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Aragon v. State9/24/1991
HARTZ, Judge.
In February 1983 appellant Joe Aragon (worker) suffered a herniation of the L5-S1 disk as the result of an accident while employed by the State of New Mexico Corrections Department (employer). He received medical and disability benefits under the Workers' Compensation Act. After corrective surgery he returned to full duty without any work restrictions until he left his employment in March 1987. In January 1988 worker suffered a herniation of the L3-4 disk and aggravation of the herniation at L5-S1 while attempting a repair on his personal truck at home. As he was lying underneath the vehicle, the transmission slipped out of place, requiring him to catch the transmission to avoid being struck in the head. Worker sought disability, medical, and rehabilitation benefits for his back condition after the 1988 accident, contending that he had a disability caused by the 1983 work accident.
The workers' compensation division (WCD) denied worker's claim. It rejected worker's proposed conclusion that his 1988 injury was a natural and direct consequence of the 1983 accident. It found that the 1988 accident "was an independent intervening event, which was not the direct or natural progression of any condition which resulted from the February 1983 accident," and that worker's disability and impairment were the direct and proximate result of the 1988 accident. We affirm.
Worker contends that he is entitled to the benefits sought if he can establish simply that the 1983 work accident was a contributing cause of his disability after the 1988 accident. In his view, as we understand it, he would be entitled to benefits if, for example, (1) the 1983 accident created a condition that was aggravated by the 1988 accident to create a disability or
(2) the injury caused by the 1983 accident combined with the injury caused by the 1988 accident to create the disability. He relies on a number of out-of-state cases and the following quotation from 1 A. Larson, Workmen's Compensation Law 13.00 (1990) [hereinafter Larson]:
When the primary injury is shown to have arisen out of and in the course of employment, every natural consequence that flows from the injury likewise arises out of the employment, unless it is the result of an independent intervening cause attributable to claimant's own intentional conduct.
We disagree with worker's statement of the law and hold that the record before us supports the decision of the WCD to deny benefits to worker. Although the language quoted from Larson, supra, and language in several opinions cited by worker can be read to support worker's view, that broad view is inconsistent with the language of the New Mexico statute. Our more restricted view of what can satisfy the statutory requirements for recovery of benefits also finds support in Larson, supra, and is inconsistent with the holdings in at most only a very few reported decisions.
As stated by worker in his brief-in-chief, "Whether a disability resulting from the concurrence of a work related injury and subsequent non-work related injuries is compensable, is apparently a question of first impression in New Mexico." Therefore, we begin our analysis with the statutory language. Two sections of the Workers' Compensation Act deal with the causal relationship that must be established between an accident and a disability for the worker to recover benefits. NMSA 1978, Section 52-1-9 states:
The right to the compensation provided for in this act [52-1-1 to 52-1-69 NMSA 1978], in lieu of any other liability wh
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