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Fred's Inc. v. Jefferson3/31/2005
t favorable to the Commission's decision, and we uphold that decision if it is supported by substantial evidence. Id. We will not reverse the Commission's decision unless we are convinced that fair-minded persons with the same facts before them could not have reached the conclusions arrived at by the Commission. Id.
A "compensable injury " is defined under the Workers Compensation Code as
An accidental injury causing internal or external physical harm to the body . . . arising out of and in the course of employment and which requires medical services or results in disability or death. An injury is "accidental" only if it is caused by a specific incident and is identifiable by time and place of occurrence[.]
Ark. Code Ann. § 11-9-102(4)(A)(i) (Repl. 2002). Section 11-9-102(4) of the Code further provides that a compensable injury must be established by medical evidence supported by "objective findings." See Ark. Code Ann. § 11-9-102(4)(D) (Repl. 2002). The Code defines "objective findings" as those "which cannot come under the voluntary control of the patient." Ark. Code Ann. § 11-9-102(16)(A)(i) (Repl. 2002).
In the case of Estridge v. Waste Management, supra, this court reversed the Commission's denial of a claimant's benefits and held that fair-minded persons with the same facts before them could not have reached the conclusions arrived at by the Commission. In Estridge, the claimant reported a back injury that occurred on the job to his employer and was referred to a physician, who diagnosed the claimant with low back strain and radicular pain. The physician failed to document any objective medical findings to support the diagnosis but prescribed Valium "as needed for muscle spasms." Ultimately, the Commission denied the claimant benefits, finding that there were no objective findings to support an injury while at work.
On appeal, this court stated that muscle spasms can constitute objective medical findings to support compensability and that muscle spasms detected by someone other than a physician, such as a physical therapist, can be sufficient as well, because this is a perception of injury by someone other than the claimant. The Commission in Estridge concluded, however, that there was no observation of muscle spasms in the claimant, because the prescription for Valium "as needed for muscle spasm" was a direction and not a finding of the presence of muscle spasms. This court disagreed and said:
It was undisputed that appellant [claimant] sustained an accidental injury at work and was diagnosed initially with back strain and received medication. What is disputed is whether appellant presented proof of objective medical evidence and whether there was a causal connection between the injury and the medical treatment. We hold that appellant did present proof of objective medical evidence and that there was a causal connection between the injury and the medical treatment, for the following reasons.
First, he was indisputably diagnosed with back strain for which he received medication after the crosstie incident. The medication was directed "as needed for muscle spasm" which the Commission dismissed as a direction to appellant rather than a medical finding. We find the Commission's dismissal of this fact to be absurd. A doctor would not prescribe medication directed to be taken "as needed for muscle spasm" if he did not believe muscle spasms were existent.
Estridge, 343 Ark. at 281, 33 S.W.3d at 171 (emphasis in original).
In the case at bar, the ALJ found that Jefferson and Fred's had an employee-employer relationship on April 25, 2002, and that Jefferson presented credible, unrefuted testimony abo
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