Kildow v. Baldwin Piano & Organ, CA

• Decision Date: 02 July 1997
• Docket Number: No. CA,CA
• Citation: Kildow v. Baldwin Piano & Organ, 948 S.W.2d 100, 58 Ark.App. 194 (Ark. App. 1997)
• Court: Arkansas Court of Appeals
• Parties: Lilly KILDOW, Appellant, v. BALDWIN PIANO & ORGAN, Appellee. 96-1268.

Page 100

948 S.W.2d 100

58 Ark.App. 194

Lilly KILDOW, Appellant, v.BALDWIN PIANO & ORGAN, Appellee.

No. CA 96-1268.

Court of Appeals of Arkansas, Divisions I and IV.

July 2, 1997.

Timothy J. Myers, Fayetteville, for Appellant.

James A. Arnold, II, Fort Smith, for Appellee.

CRABTREE, Judge.

AppellantLilly Kildow appeals the decision of the Workers' Compensation Commission affirming the Administrative Law Judge's order denying benefits for her Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS).The Commission based its denial of benefits on appellant's failure to prove adequate rapidity of motion to satisfy the Commission's interpretation of "rapid repetitive motion injury."SeeArk.Code Ann. § 11-9-102(5)(A)(ii)(a)(1996).

Appellant urges two points for reversal.First, she argues that the Commission's interpretation of the statute requiring proof of rapid repetitive motion is erroneous in light of the specific inclusion of CTS as a compensable injury in the statute.Second, appellant argues that the Commission's denial of benefits, even under its interpretation of the "rapid repetitive" dispute, is not supported by substantial evidence.We reverse based on a lack of substantial evidence to support the Commission's decision; however, in doing so, we reject appellant's statutory construction argument and affirm the Commission's requirement that carpal tunnel syndrome claimants must prove rapid repetitive motion.

I.Facts

Appellant was employed by appelleeBaldwin Piano Company from February 1, 1993, until March 7, 1994.Her duties consisted primarily of manning a station on an assembly line where she secured small electrical components to a 1/8th-inch-thick board with three to five small wires that were two to three inches in length.Appellant typically gripped the board with her left hand while squeezing and twisting the wires with pliers in her right hand, and then sent her completed task to the next station on the assembly line.She testified that she performed these operations over and over again for eight to ten hours a day, five to six days a week, with two fifteen-minute breaks, a thirty-minute lunch break, and short restroom breaks as needed for nearly a year.Beginning in January of 1994, she complained to her supervisor of pain in her wrists.The pain worsened until she saw the company physician, Dr. David Ureckis, on March 10, 1994.

Dr. Ureckis's initial report noted a nerve conduction velocity test suggesting borderline CTS.Dr. Ureckis put appellant in splints, took her off work, prescribed anti-inflammatory medication, and referred her to Dr. Tom Patrick Coker for surgical evaluation.

Dr. Coker's initial report from March 31, 1994, stated that she had "an EMG which confirms a right carpal tunnel.The left wrist was non-significant."Appellant was seen by Dr. Coker seven times and completed a multi-visit course of physical therapy over the next several months.

Appellant was involved in a motor-vehicle accident on August 20, 1994, which complicated her medical records with chiropractic and psychological treatment apparently unrelated to her workers' compensation claim.Eventually, she was referred to another specialist, Dr. David A. Davis, a neurologist, who opined:

Her constellation of symptoms would suggest reflex sympathetic dystrophy, perhaps supported by the bone scan.I am unable to make that diagnosis because of the absence of significant temperature or skin changes, and because of the give way weakness and peculiar hypethesia, both of which suggest symptom magnification.I'll be discussing with you referring her to the University of Arkansas Medical School for evaluation in that regard.

Appellant was referred to UAMS, and treated by Dr. Harris Gellman, a professor and Chief of the Hand Surgery Service.Dr. Gellman reviewed the tests of the previous treating physicians and administered additional tests before recommending carpal tunnel release surgery.

Appellee denied coverage for appellant's CTS and medical treatment.The Administrative Law Judge held that appellant's activities were not sufficiently rapid, and the Commission agreed.

Appellant brings this appeal, raising two points.

II.Substantial Evidence

This court reviews decisions of the Workers' Compensation Commission to see if they are supported by substantial evidence.Deffenbaugh Indus. v. Angus, 39 Ark.App. 24, 832 S.W.2d 869(1992).Substantial evidence is that relevant evidence which a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion.Wright v. ABC Air, Inc., 44 Ark.App. 5, 864 S.W.2d 871(1993).The issue is not whether this court might have reached a different result from that reached by the Commission or whether the evidence would have supported a contrary finding.Bradley v. Alumax, 50 Ark.App. 13, 899 S.W.2d 850(1995).If reasonable minds could reach the result shown by the Commission's decision, we must affirm the decision.Id.

Even if the Commission's reading of the statute requiring claimants to prove both rapid and repetitive motion is upheld, appellant still claims that the facts here do not amount to substantial evidence to support a finding that her work was not sufficiently rapid to qualify as a rapid repetitive motion injury.The question for this court is whether reasonable minds would accept the finding that appellant's work was not "rapid" based on the evidence in the record.

More specifically, the relevant finding is found in the opinion of the Commission, along with some explanation of the Commission's view of the proof required to establish carpal tunnel syndrome as compensable:

The claimant failed to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that her carpal tunnel syndrome was cause [sic ] by rapid repetitive motion.Although the Act does not establish any guidelines with regard to the extent of motion necessary to satisfy the requirement of rapid motion or with regard to the nature of the motion necessary to satisfy the requirement of repetitive motion, we held in Throckmorton v. J & J Metals, FC Opinion filed August 14, 1995(E405318), that "the requirement that the condition be caused by rapid repetitive motion requires proof that the claimant's employment duties involved, at least in part, a notably high rate of activity involving the exact, or almost exactly, same movement again and again over extended periods of time."We further held that whether the employment duties satisfied the statutory requirement is a fact question to be decided based upon the evidence presented in each case.

...

The claimant has failed to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that her injury was caused by rapid repetitive motion.There is simply no evidence in the record to prove that the claimant's activities fall within the definition of rapid.

The only evidence regarding appellant's job activities came from her own testimony before the ALJ.No company representatives disputed her account of her daily tasks.

In denying benefits for appellant's CTS, the Commission relied on the requirements for gradual-onset injuries announced in its own opinion, Throckmorton, supra.Notably, the Commission defines the two terms, "rapid repetitive," together as a single, interrelated concept.

However, our holding in Baysinger v. Air Systems, 55 Ark.App. 174, 934 S.W.2d 230(1996), rejected the Commission's language "exact, or almost exactly, the same movement again and again."In light of our holding in Baysinger, the Commission's decision in Throckmorton is erroneous, as a matter of law, to the extent that it requires claimants to prove "exact, or almost exactly, the same movement again and again."

In discerning a definition for the term "rapid repetitive"¹, we are bound to give the words their ordinary meaning, give effect to the intent of the legislature, and make use of common sense.State Office of Child Support Enforcement v. Harnage, 322 Ark. 461, 910 S.W.2d 207(1995).

In its ordinary usage, rapid means swift or quick.Concise Oxford Dictionary 1137 (9th Ed.1995).In the present case, appellant testified that her job entailed assembling electrical components on boards by gripping and twisting short wires on small pieces for eight to ten hours a day, five to six days a week on an assembly line.Further, when appellant returned to work under her doctor's light-duty orders, she was restricted to placing no more than one board per minute onto the line.It is clear to us that reasonable minds could not agree that appellant's testimony does not establish that her job did involve swift or quick motion.While testimony on how many boards appellant assembled in a given day might better prove rapidity, it is a matter of common sense that reasonable minds would expect work on an assembly line to move at a swift or quick pace.

Further, our recent opinion in Baysinger v. Air Systems, Inc., 55 Ark.App. 174, 934 S.W.2d 230(1996), stated, "We feel that the Commission's interpretation of the statute is too restrictive and precludes multiple tasks--such as the hammering and grinding motions performed by claimant--from being considered together to satisfy the requirements of the statute."Id. at 176, 934 S.W.2d at 231.While Baysinger addressed the repetitive nature of a claimant's CTS, and the Commission in this case takes issue with the "rapid" prong of the rapid-repetitive analysis, Baysinger is analogous to the facts here, and supports reversal based on the fact that the Commission's application of "rapid" is not supported by substantial evidence.

The appellant in Baysinger was a metal worker who used his hands to shape, grind, polish, and pound pieces of metal with heavy vibrating tools.We remanded to the Commission for a finding of whether such exertion, considered together, would satisfy the requirements of the statute.Here, when considered together, reasonable minds could not agree that appellant's assembly line work of gripping, twisting, and squeezing wires to secure small components to boards all day...