Hawkeye Wood Shavings, Inc. v. Parrish, No. 4-492/03-1352 (IA 12/8/2004)
| Decision Date | 08 December 2004 |
| Docket Number | No. 4-492/03-1352,4-492/03-1352 |
| Parties | HAWKEYE WOOD SHAVINGS, INC., and GREAT WEST CASUALTY COMPANY, Petitioners-Appellants, v. JAMES PARRISH, Respondent-Appellee. |
| Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk, Glenn E. Pille, Judge.
In this workers' compensation action an employer appeals from the district court ruling that affirmed the decision of the workers' compensation commissioner.
AFFIRMED.
Stephen Spencer and Joseph Barron of Peddicord, Wharton, Spencer & Hook, L.L.P., Des Moines, for appellants.
Max Schott of Max Schott & Associates, P.C., Des Moines, for appellee.
Heard by Sackett, C.J., and Vogel, Zimmer, Hecht, and Eisenhauer, JJ.
Hawkeye Wood Shavings, Inc. (Hawkeye), a trucking company, and its workers' compensation insurer, Great West Casualty Company (Great West), appeal from a district court ruling that affirmed a decision of the workers' compensation commissioner. The decision awarded James Parrish, an employee of Hawkeye, permanent partial disability and penalty benefits. Upon review, we agree with the district court that the agency decision should be upheld.
James Parrish, fifty-nine years old at the time of his administrative hearing, works as a dispatcher for Hawkeye. His job requires him to locate and secure loads to be hauled by the company's drivers. Parrish has held this position since 1990, and has worked as a dispatcher, for various companies, since 1975. Prior to 1975, Parrish performed manual labor. He has a high school degree, but no other formalized education or specialized training.
Although Parrish's previous dispatching jobs required physical exertion and extended periods of standing, Parrish's job at Hawkeye is sedentary. During each workday he spends approximately three to four hours on the telephone, speaking with drivers and writing down information. He also spends a significant amount of time at his desk writing up orders, and generally eats his lunch and takes his breaks at his desk. He is, however, free to stand up, move around, and leave the office area, and frequently does so. For the first ten years of his employment, Parrish worked between twelve and thirteen hours per day five days per week, and an additional seven hours on Saturday. Beginning in 2000, Hawkeye reduced Parrish's schedule to eleven to twelve hours per day five days per week, and eliminated his Saturday shift. The reduction was a purely economic decision.
In September 1999 Parrish began to experience right hip/buttock pain. He sought treatment from his personal physician, Dr. Gregory Peterson. After the pain grew more severe, and began radiating down Parrish's right leg and into his foot, Dr. Peterson ordered an MRI. The March 2000 MRI revealed both a degenerative disk condition as well as a disk herniation. Dr. Peterson referred Parrish to neurosurgeon Douglas Koontz. The consultation narrative from Parrish's initial April 2000 visit to Dr. Koontz's office recommended conservative treatment, including a selective nerve root block.1 Nothing in the medical records from April and May 2000 indicates a connection between Parrish's condition, and his employment at Hawkeye.
Parrish underwent the nerve block, and the conservative treatment initially provided him relief. His pain eventually returned, however, and increased in severity. Dr. Koontz recommended surgery. Other than some minimal time related to doctors' visits and testing, Parrish had not yet missed work due to his condition. Parrish spoke with Hawkeye's president, Frank Sloan, and arranged to take vacation during the time of his surgery, hospitalization, and initial recuperation. Parrish initially informed Sloan his back condition was not work related.
Dr. Koontz performed surgery on September 19, 2000. During the discharge conference on September 22 Dr. Koontz informed Parrish he could not return to work in a couple of weeks, as Parrish had hoped; rather he would need to be off of work eight to twelve weeks. Dr. Koontz also informed Parrish that the years of prolonged sitting at Hawkeye had caused or contributed to his degenerative disk condition. Parrish called Sloan on or about September 25 and asked if a workers' compensation claim could be submitted. Sloan stated it could not, because Parrish had previously indicated the condition was not work related. During this conversation Parrish informed Sloan he had recently learned his condition was in fact work related.
After Sloan declined to report the claim Parrish contacted Iowa Workforce Development, who in turn contacted Hawkeye and advised it of reporting requirements. A claim for workers' compensation benefits was then filed, on or about October 6, 2000. Hawkeye's workers' compensation insurer, Great West, conducted a recorded interview with Parrish on October 11. On October 12 Great West wrote Dr. Koontz and requested Parrish's medical records. No records were received, and on October 27 Great West sent Parrish a letter denying the claim. The letter stated, in pertinent part:
[W]e have now completed our investigation of the facts surrounding your workers' compensation claim of October 6, 2000.
As you are probably aware, the employer/insurer's obligation is not to pay all claims, but only those claims were [sic] the accident, injury, and/or disease arose out of an in the course of employment. We have been unable to secure medical data to support that your employment with Hawkeye Wood Shavings, Inc. was a substantial factor in causing the injury/illness you allege.
Therefore, we will be unable to provide you benefits under the Iowa Workers' Compensation Act.
On November 13, 2000, Dr. Koontz released Parrish to return to work with the recommendation that he "get up and move around often." Dr. Koontz subsequently clarified the restriction to provide that Parrish "get up and move around at least every hour to change positions." Dr. Koontz also imposed a forty to fifty pound lifting requirement, and recommended against "frequent bending, lifting, and twisting." Parrish returned to work and, except for a brief period in April 2001, continued to work for Hawkeye up to and including the time of the arbitration hearing.
Parrish filed two claims for workers' compensation benefits, alleging a cumulative injury occurring alternatively on September 18 and 25, 2000.2 Parrish obtained opinions from Dr. Koontz in support of his claim. Approximately a month prior to the December 2001 arbitration hearing Parrish was examined by Dr. William Boulden, an orthopaedic surgeon retained by Hawkeye and Great Western. Dr. Boulden opined that Parrish's condition was age related, and not caused by his employment.
In the July 2002 arbitration decision, the deputy workers' compensation commissioner determined Parrish had suffered a cumulative, work-related injury on September 19, 2000, and had incurred a twenty-six percent industrial disability. The deputy awarded Parrish healing period and permanent partial disability benefits and medical expenses. The deputy also awarded Parrish $5,000 in penalty benefits, concluding Great West's reason for denying the claim on October 27 was "wholly insufficient," and that the company had no fairly debatable reason for denying the claim at that time. The award represented twenty-five percent of the total benefits delayed up to the time of Dr. Boulden's opinion. The deputy rejected the assertion by Hawkeye and Great West that Parrish had known the work-related nature of his injury as early as April 2000, and thus had not provided timely notice of his injury.
Hawkeye and Great West appealed. In the appeal decision the interim workers' compensation commissioner reduced Parrish's permanent partial disability benefits, concluding Parrish had suffered only a ten percent industrial disability. The commissioner further concluded that only $500 in penalty benefits were warranted. The commissioner reasoned the award should be limited to a percentage of Parrish's healing period benefits, as the permanency issue had been rendered fairly debatable after Parrish returned to work and performed the same job, on the same schedule, and at the same pay. The remainder of the deputy's decision was affirmed.
Hawkeye petitioned for judicial review. Parrish filed a cross-petition, challenging the agency's reduction of the permanent partial disability and penalty benefits. Rejecting the claims of both sides, the district court affirmed the agency decision. Hawkeye and Great West (hereinafter collectively referred to as Hawkeye) then filed this appeal. Hawkeye asserts the agency erred in concluding that Parrish's injury arose out of his employment with Hawkeye, that Parrish suffered a ten percent industrial disability, that Parrish provided timely notice of his injury, and that penalty benefits were warranted. Parrish did not file a cross-appeal.3
Review of agency actions is limited to correcting errors at law. Iowa R. App. P. 6.4; IBP, Inc. v. Harpole, 621 N.W.2d 410, 414 (Iowa 2001). In reviewing the district court's decision, we apply the standards of Iowa Code chapter 17A (2001) to determine whether our conclusions are the same as those of the district court. Grundmeyer v. Weyerhaeuser Co., 649 N.W.2d 744, 748 (Iowa 2002). If they are the same, we affirm; if not, we reverse. Id.
In reviewing the agency's factual determinations, we look to see whether those determinations are supported by substantial evidence. Iowa Code § 17A.19(10)(f). This requires that the entirety of the record—including supporting and detracting relevant evidence as well as credibility assessments—be sufficient to allow a reasonable and neutral person to reach the same conclusion as the agency. Id. Webroadly and liberally apply the agency's findings to uphold rather than to defeat its decision. IBP, Inc. v. Al-Gharib, 604 N.W.2d 621, 632 (Iowa 2000).
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