C.R. Eng. v. Labor Comm'n

• Docket Number: 20230818-CA
• Decision Date: 15 November 2024
• Citation: C.R. Eng. v. Labor Comm'n, 2024 UT App 170, 20230818-CA (Utah App. Nov 15, 2024)
• Parties: C.R. England Inc. and Indemnity Insurance Company of North America, Petitioners, v. Labor Commission and Jeziah Johnson, Respondents.
• Court: Utah Court of Appeals

1

2024 UT App 170

C.R. England Inc. and Indemnity Insurance Company of North America, Petitioners, v. Labor Commission and Jeziah Johnson, Respondents.

No. 20230818-CA

Court of Appeals of Utah

November 15, 2024

Original Proceeding in this Court.

Christin Bechmann and Clarissa West, Attorneys for Petitioners.

Richard R. Burke, Attorney for Respondent Jeziah Johnson.

Judge Ryan M. Harris authored this Opinion, in which Judges Michele M. Christiansen Forster and David N. Mortensen concurred.

OPINION

HARRIS, Judge:

¶1 Jeziah Johnson, a long-haul truck driver, was injured when his truck-then being driven by his co-driver-was in a rollover accident while traveling at 65 miles per hour. At the time of the accident, Johnson was resting in the truck's sleeper berth. He filed a claim for workers' compensation benefits, and he was eventually awarded temporary total disability benefits, treatment expenses, and travel reimbursement expenses. His employer, C.R. England (England), and its insurer (collectively, the Company) seek judicial review of the award, asserting chiefly that the evidence presented does not sufficiently support it. We decline to disturb the award and, in addition, we award Johnson his attorney fees and costs incurred in defending against the Company's claims in this review proceeding.

BACKGROUND

¶2 In September 2019, Johnson was offered employment with England, a commercial trucking company. The offer was conditioned on Johnson obtaining his commercial driver license (CDL) via England's driver tuition reimbursement program. Prior to his employment with England, Johnson had experienced mental health issues, including mood disorder post-traumatic stress disorder, and anxiety. However, during Johnson's training period, a medical examiner found Johnson mentally and physically fit to work as a commercial truck driver. After obtaining his CDL and passing all examinations, Johnson began driving for England in early October 2019.

¶3 About eleven weeks later, on December 21, 2019, Johnson and a co-driver were taking turns driving an England truck through New Mexico when an accident (the Accident) occurred. At the time of the Accident, Johnson's co-driver was driving the truck and Johnson was resting in the truck's sleeper berth. The berth had a safety net that was designed to restrain a passenger in the event of an accident, but the safety net was not functioning properly at the time, despite Johnson having made multiple previous requests to have England repair it. The Accident occurred while the truck was traveling at approximately 65 miles per hour; another vehicle apparently failed to yield the right-of-way, causing the truck to swerve, run off the road, and roll over. Photos from the scene of the Accident show significant damage to the truck: the hood was completely torn off of the body, the front axle was displaced, and the windshield was heavily damaged.

¶4 Following the Accident, Johnson was transported via ambulance to a local hospital. Johnson reported to emergency department personnel that he had been "rolling around" in the sleeper berth during the Accident but that he was unsure if he had hit his head. He also reported experiencing low back pain. Johnson was discharged from the emergency department with instructions to follow up with his private physician for his injuries, including an "unspecified" head injury.

¶5 A few days after the Accident, when he was back home, Johnson went to the emergency department complaining of "rib pain." After conducting an exam-including a CT scan of his head and neck, the findings of which were unremarkable-the emergency physician diagnosed Johnson with a "concussion without loss of consciousness." Johnson also visited an occupational medicine clinic, where the provider noted, as relevant here, a concussion, an eyebrow laceration, and back pain.

¶6 Later, in January 2020, Johnson suffered a fall at home, and he reported that it resulted in "severe pain." He again went to the emergency department, and after additional CT scans, the emergency physician noted "healing" fractures of three ribs and "healing" fractures of the spine. During a follow-up visit, a different physician opined that the "fractures are from the motor vehicle accident/work injury."

¶7 And in January 2021, Johnson visited a neurologist, who noted that Johnson complained of "constant, daily headaches" and that Johnson believed the headache symptoms had "flared up" his anxiety and depression. The neurologist diagnosed Johnson with post-concussion syndrome, post-traumatic headache, and "[e]xacerbation of underlying mood disorder" and of "anxiety [and] depression." In particular, the neurologist concluded that the headaches and exacerbation of psychological symptoms were "due to the work injury on 12/21/2019." And the neurologist indicated that all of his conclusions were "made within a reasonable degree of medical certainty."

¶8 In all, Johnson was evaluated by a variety of treating health care professionals who noted that Johnson was suffering from persistent headaches and from psychological issues such as anxiety and depression. In particular, treating providers assessed Johnson for ongoing nightmares and flashbacks, anger issues, and "daily headaches." In this vein, one psychologist remarked that Johnson's "cognitive symptoms are due to emotional distress, somatic focus, and stressors that have increased since the injury."

¶9 In addition to his own treating physicians and other health care professionals, Johnson was examined by two medical experts retained by the Company: an orthopedic surgeon and a physiatrist.^[1] The orthopedic surgeon, after writing that Johnson "had not yet secured the safety harness" in the sleeper berth before the Accident occurred, concluded that Johnson's rib and lumbar fractures were not related to the Accident, that the only injuries that were related to the Accident were a back strain/sprain and an eyebrow laceration, and that Johnson was capable of returning to work full-time without restrictions. And the physiatrist concluded that Johnson had sustained a concussion, an eyebrow laceration, and a lumbar strain/sprain in the Accident, but that all of these injuries were "resolved" and Johnson could return to work full-time without restrictions.

¶10 After reviewing the reports from the Company's medical experts, Johnson obtained a sworn declaration from the neurologist who had examined him in January 2021. In that declaration, the neurologist opined, among other things, that Johnson was experiencing "anxiety and depression that were directly caused by the [A]ccident," and that all of Johnson's "medical care to date ha[d] been necessitated by the [A]ccident," including treatment for "resulting symptoms from his concussion and spinal injuries, along with psychological issues from the [A]ccident." The neurologist indicated that he had reviewed the reports from the Company's medical experts, and he offered a response, in relevant part, as follows:

I have observed Mr. Johnson in my clinic over the past year, including before and after [the Company's expert] evaluations were performed. It is not evident to me what facts these doctors relied on to reach their conclusions that [Johnson] had already fully recovered from the [A]ccident. Suffice it to say, based on my longitudinal observations of Mr. Johnson in a clinical setting, I do not believe that he is medically stable at this time. Mr. Johnson needs additional care in the form of ongoing neurological care with necessary medicines, continued psychological counseling and physical therapy.

¶11 In September 2021, Johnson filed an application for a hearing with the Utah Labor Commission, asserting that he had sustained injuries in the Accident, including a traumatic brain injury, broken ribs, and a back injury, and he requested an award of medical expenses, temporary total disability compensation, permanent partial disability compensation, travel expenses, and unpaid interest. The case was assigned to an administrative law judge (ALJ), who held a hearing in April 2022.

¶12 At that hearing, Johnson testified that, as the truck rolled over during the Accident, he was "thrown around" inside the sleeper berth and that he struck his head, back, neck, legs, and shoulders against the bunk, cabinets, and walls of the truck. Johnson stated that, at the time of the hearing, he was still experiencing headaches with pain of "3 or 4 out of 10," which lasted four to five hours at a time and occurred six days per week, along with various other types of headaches, including migraines, occurring at varying frequencies. Johnson indicated that he was experiencing "daily" cognitive difficulties that made him feel like he was in a "mental fog," as well as vision problems along with light and noise sensitivity. Additionally, Johnson stated that he had been, and still was, seeking therapeutic counseling services.

¶13 Johnson also testified about his mental health both before and after the Accident. He acknowledged that he had long experienced mental health issues, but he testified that his symptoms had been "well controlled" before applying to work for England. He offered his view that, since the Accident, his anxiety and depression had worsened.

¶14 After the hearing, and given the conflicting medical evidence, the ALJ referred the matter to a medical panel. A few months later, the panel issued a report, and it concluded, as relevant here, that Johnson's headaches were a result of the Accident and that his "psychiatric illness . . . ha[d] worsened from the industrial accident." The panel noted that Johnson smoked "3-4 bowls a day of 31% THC flower" cannabis-an amount it characterized as "high"-and it observed that...