McSpadden v. Big Ben Coal Co.

• Citation: 288 N.W.2d 181
• Decision Date: 23 January 1980
• Docket Number: No. 63537,63537
• Parties: Percy G. McSPADDEN, Appellant, v. BIG BEN COAL COMPANY, Old Republic Insurance Company, and Iowa Industrial Commissioner, Appellees.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Iowa

Page 181

288 N.W.2d 181

Percy G. McSPADDEN, Appellant, v. BIG BEN COAL COMPANY, Old Republic Insurance Company, and Iowa Industrial Commissioner, Appellees.

No. 63537.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Jan. 23, 1980.

John A. Jarvis, Chariton, for appellant.

Merlin A. Steger of Adler, Brennan, Joyce & Steger, Des Moines, for appellees Big Ben Coal Company and Old Republic Insurance Company.

Considered by REYNOLDSON, C. J., and LeGRAND, McCORMICK, ALLBEE, and LARSON, JJ.

ALLBEE, Justice.

Percy G. McSpadden appeals the judgment of the district court, affirming the denial by the industrial commissioner of workers' compensation benefits. He claims to have suffered deleterious effects from inhaling coal dust and toxic gases while working underground in coal mines for many years.

On May 26, 1977, McSpadden filed his petition for arbitration with the industrial commissioner, claiming permanent and total disability against Big Ben Coal Co., his most recent employer in the coal mining industry, and Old Republic Insurance Co., Big Ben's carrier. A hearing on the petition was held September 22, 1977, before a deputy industrial commissioner, who subsequently denied the requested benefits. Claimant then appealed the proposed decision of the deputy to the industrial commissioner. Concluding that the deputy's findings of fact and conclusions of law were proper, the commissioner adopted the proposed decision as the final decision of the agency. Claimant next petitioned for judicial review, and

the district court affirmed the commissioner's decision.

I. Preservation of Error.

In this appeal from the district court's judgment, claimant generally alleges in his brief that the agency violated constitutional, statutory and agency rule provisions and acted unlawfully, unreasonably, arbitrarily and with an abuse of discretion. These are some of the recognized statutory criteria to which review of administrative action is restricted. Schmitt v. Iowa Department of Social Services, 263 N.W.2d 739, 743 (Iowa 1978); § 17A.19(8), The Code (made applicable to workers' compensation cases by § 86.26, The Code 1977 (as amended by 1977 Session, 67th G.A., ch. 51, § 51)). However, claimant's brief, after stating this general allegation, proceeds only to list certain enumerated acts or omissions of the lower tribunals, which he alleges all reflect the violations previously generally alleged. In the ensuing discussions of each of these enumerated points, he fails to mention or give supportive authority for some of the violations generally alleged as related to the particular act or omission. Insofar as claimant neglected to relate particular agency acts or omissions to specifically described violations, supported by legal authorities, his argument is so indefinite as to preclude our consideration. See Arthur Elevator Co. v. Grove, 236 N.W.2d 383, 393 (Iowa 1975); Iowa R.App.P. 14(a)(3) ("Failure in the brief to state, to argue or to cite authority in support of an issue may be deemed waiver of that issue."). The most glaring instance of this deficiency is that only in one instance in his brief does claimant specify a constitutional provision which allegedly was violated. See Chicago Title Insurance Co. v. Huff, 256 N.W.2d 17, 21 (Iowa 1977) ("(A) constitutional challenge must specify the provisions invoked and state with particularity the details of any claimed transgression.") (quoting Buda v. Fulton, 261 Iowa 981, 989, 157 N.W.2d 336, 341 (1968)).

Additionally, in workers' compensation cases appellate review is limited to those matters raised and litigated before the commissioner, Polson v. Meredith Publishing Co., 213 N.W.2d 520, 523 (Iowa 1973), and we shall so confine our review in this case.

II. Adequacy of Administrative Findings.

Several of the particular acts or omissions of the agency that claimant attacks involve the findings of fact and conclusions of law made by the deputy and later adopted by the commissioner. Consequently, a brief summary of the contents of the deputy's ruling is necessary. First, the deputy summarized claimant's work history and physical complaints from his testimony given at the hearing. Specifically, the deputy noted that claimant had worked underground in coal mines in various capacities from ages thirteen to sixty-seven and that he now claimed to be unable to breathe with any exertion or to perform the duties of his former job.

The deputy then quoted parts of the medical evidence. Included was a report of W. K. C. Morgan, M.D., Chief of the Appalachian Laboratory for Occupational Respiratory Diseases, stating that claimant's 1971 x-ray revealed "evidence of some early dust retention in the lungs, category 1 simple pneumoconiosis. . . . " The ruling also contained a report by Ralph E. Hines, M.D., a radiologist, which said that there was no evidence of pneumoconiosis in claimant's x-ray of 1975.

A report by D. A. Mater, M.D., who has been claimant's family physician for many years, was quoted as well:

(X)-ray and Ventilatory Studies, show that the pulmonary disease has progressed to the point where he can no longer perform physical exertion or tolerate the fatigue involved in his job at the mine.

Skeletal damage from prior injuries had stabilized prior to 1977. The lung condition worsened during the past seven years. This in turn, tends to overtax his heart, which requires that he avoid conditions of stress or lifting, and that he take frequent rest periods. I regard this condition as chronic and irreversible.

The deputy observed that Dr. Mater related his findings to claimant's exposure to coal dust and gases.

Finally, the ruling reiterated excerpts from a deposition of Randall R. Hanson, M.D., a specialist in internal medicine and pulmonary disease:

It appears that Mr. McSpadden has mild to moderate obstructive airways disease, which is primarily a combination of chronic bronchitis and intrinsic asthma, with a significant amount of reversibility, as demonstrated by the pulmonary function tests. Mr. McSpadden has a history of significant coal dust exposure, but my interpretation was not radiographically evidence that he had coal worker's pneumoconiosis and that his functional capacity would fall into that of mild disability as far as his total cardiopulmonary function is concerned, depending on what one defined as disability for a sixty-seven year old male.

The ruling also quoted Dr. Hanson's description of claimant's ability to work:

How much strenuous work are you asking? Are you asking that: Is this man able to do the physical work that a twentyfive (Sic ) year old man should do or can do? My answer to that is no. Is this gentleman able to do the same amount of work that an average sixty-seven year old man should do? I would say yes.

Next, the deputy set out applicable principles of law with case authority. He stated that claimant had the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that his health impairment resulted from an incident or activity of employment. Determining causal connection is "essentially within the domain of expert medical testimony," he explained, citing Bradshaw v. Iowa Methodist Hospital, 251 Iowa 375, 101 N.W.2d 167 (1960). Finally, he set forth the broad definition of "personal injury" under chapter 85, articulated in Almquist v. Shenandoah Nurseries, Inc., 218 Iowa 724, 732, 254 N.W. 35, 39 (1934) ("something, whether an accident or not, that acts extraneously to the natural processes of nature, and thereby impairs the health").

The deputy's ruling continued as follows:

ANALYSIS

Claimant failed to sustain his burden of proof of an occupational disease under Chapter 85A which arose out of and in the course of his employment for defendant employer. The opinion of Dr. Hanson that claimant did not have coal worker's pneumoconiosis was given greater weight than the opinion of Dr. Mater due to the expertise of Dr. Hanson.

Dr. Hanson's opinion that a part of claimant's chronic bronchitis and asthma was probably related to the inhalation of coal dust by claimant could be construed to be an injury within the definition stated in Almquist, supra. However, claimant failed to prove that he was disabled from work as a result of this injury. Dr. Hanson described claimant's disability to be ". . . a mild degree of disability." He believed claimant could perform the same amount of work as an average sixty-seven year old and could perform the work of an underground supervisor. Additionally, the medical evidence failed to specifically relate the chronic bronchitis and asthma of claimant or an aggravation of these conditions to the exposure of claimant to coal dust while working for defendant employer immediately preceding the injury date of April 26, 1977.

FINDINGS

WHEREFORE, it is found that claimant failed to sustain his burden of proof of an injury or occupational disease arising out of and in the course of his employment for defendant employer.

THEREFORE, the relief requested in claimant's petition for arbitration is denied.

Claimant argues that the deputy's findings of fact and conclusions of law were deficient for lack of specificity and comprehensiveness and for the application of erroneous principles of law.

It is well established that the application of erroneous legal principles mandates reversal. See, e. g., Langford v. Kellar Excavating & Grading, Inc., 191 N.W.2d 667, 668, 670 (Iowa 1971); Cf. Nelson v. Cities Service Oil Co., 259 Iowa 1209, 1214, 146 N.W.2d 261, 264 (1967) (reversal not required if commissioner misstates rule of law but actually determines case under correct rule). Remand is also necessitated in order to permit the agency to re-evaluate the evidence, applying the correct rule of law, unless the reviewing court can make the necessary factual findings as a matter of law because the relevant evidence is both uncontradicted and reasonable minds could not draw different inferences from it. Compare Flint v. City of Eldon, 191 Iowa 845, 849-50, ...