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Sporleder v. Crouse Cartage Co.8/17/2005
Roger Sporleder appeals from the district court's ruling on judicial review of a workers' compensation award. AFFIRMED.
Heard by Sackett, C.J., and Vogel, Zimmer, Hecht, and Eisenhauer, JJ, but decided by Sackett, C.J., and Vogel, Zimmer, Hecht, and Vaitheswaran, JJ.
Roger Sporleder appeals from the district court's ruling on judicial review of a workers' compensation award. We affirm.
I. Factual and Procedural Background
After graduating from high school, Sporleder, his wife, and their children operated a substantial farming business. They raised grain and livestock on more than 3000 acres in Iowa and Texas. While farming, Sporleder also operated a trucking business and a hog-buying station.
Sporleder has a long and somewhat complicated medical history. He injured his back and underwent successful back surgery in the early '70's. He suffered other injuries in the mid-'70's and mid-'80's which further injured his back, damaged internal organs, and produced "dumping syndrome" from which he suffers intermittent bouts of diarrhea and constipation.
After his farming and trucking enterprises failed in 1987, Sporleder began driving trucks for Crouse Cartage Company (Crouse) in 1987. Sporleder thereafter filed three workers' compensation petitions claiming injuries sustained in the course and scope of his employment with Crouse on January 8, 1997 (fall resulting in lumbar spine injury), January 13, 1999 (fall causing back injury and depression), and December 20, 1999 (cumulative injury to both upper extremities). A hearing was held on October 8, 2001 and an arbitration decision was filed by the presiding deputy workers' compensation commissioner on November 26, 2001. The deputy found Sporleder sustained a five percent industrial disability as a result of the 1997 injury. The deputy also found Sporleder was permanently totally disabled as a result of the January 13, 1999 injury to his back, both upper extremities, and resulting depression. Because the deputy reasoned that the cumulative injury to Sporleder's upper extremities became manifest on January 13, he found Sporleder sustained no compensable injury on December 20, 1999.
Sporleder appealed the arbitration decision, contending the deputy erred in rejecting his claim of a December 20, 1999 cumulative injury. The interim workers' compensation commissioner affirmed the arbitration decision in an appeal decision filed July 31, 2002. The appeal decision acknowledged the record "also contains support for" a finding of December 20, 1999 as Sporleder's bilateral upper extremity injury date. However, the commissioner concluded the doctrine of apportionment dictated that the defendants' liability "would be no different regardless of which date of injury in 1999 is applied to the [upper extremity] injury." The commissioner reasoned that because Sporleder was totally disabled as a consequence of the January 13, 1999 injury, he could not be entitled to further compensation as a consequence of the alleged December 20, 1999 injury.
Sporleder sought judicial review of the agency's decision. The district court affirmed the agency's decision, and Sporleder now appeals contending the agency made an error of law when it determined the cumulative injury to both upper extremities manifested on January 13, 1999. In particular, he contends as a matter of law, the cumulative injury to his upper extremities was not manifest until December 20, 1999 when he was first unable to work because of problems with his upper extremities. Sporleder further contends the agency's determination of the date of the injury to his upper extremities was unreasonable and unsupported by substantial evidence.
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