Quail Ridge Senior Dev., LLC v. Brooks
| Decision Date | 20 August 2014 |
| Docket Number | No. 111712.,111712. |
| Citation | 369 P.3d 44 |
| Parties | QUAIL RIDGE SENIOR DEVELOPMENT, LLC, Petitioner, v. Robert Erroll BROOKS and The Workers' Compensation Court, Respondents. |
| Court | United States State Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma. Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma |
C. Craig Cole, John E. Gatliff II, Pete J. Katzdorn, C. Craig Cole & Associates, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, for Petitioner.
Kent Eldridge, Kent Eldridge, PC, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, for Respondent.
¶ 1 Employer Quail Ridge Senior Development, LLC seeks review of an order of a three-judge panel of the Workers' Compensation Court,1 affirming the trial court's finding that Claimant Robert Erroll Brooks sustained a consequential injury to his right knee and ordering Employer to provide Claimant with reasonable and necessary medical treatment for that injury. Because the clear weight of the evidence supports the findings of the Workers' Compensation Court, we sustain the panel's order.
¶ 2 Claimant worked for Employer as a driver. He drove a van, transporting the residents of Employer's assisted living center to and from their various appointments. His duties included helping the residents into the vehicle and loading their wheelchairs and walkers into the back of the van.
¶ 3 The record reveals that on August 1, 2011, as Claimant was helping a resident into the front seat of the van, he stepped off of the curb and felt "excruciating" pain in his right ankle. He continued working and, after he clocked out, he sought medical attention from his primary care physician. He was x-rayed, placed in a walking cast or "boot" and told to see a specialist and obtain an ultrasound. On the following day, August 2, Claimant provided his manager with written notice of his injury, stating that he "realized that this incident needed to be placed under some type of workman's compensation," he needed further treatment and "awaited further instruction." Approximately three weeks later, Claimant was referred to orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Geib, who ordered an MRI. The MRI revealed a right ruptured Achilles tendon, which Dr. Geib surgically repaired on an outpatient basis, on August 22, 2011. Claimant was released from the hospital with his right foot in a boot and weight-bearing restrictions. He was placed on crutches.
¶ 4 Claimant maintained that on August 23, the day after his surgery while he was still using crutches, he lost his balance and fell as he attempted to stand up from his chair to go to the restroom. Claimant, who was six feet five inches tall and weighed around 300 pounds, felt a tearing sensation in his right knee. His right knee caught all of his weight when he fell onto the tile floor in his kitchen.
¶ 5 On June 20, 2012, Claimant filed his Form 3 seeking benefits for the alleged August 1, 2011 injury to his right foot/ankle and a consequential injury to his right knee as a result of his fall on August 23. Employer admitted the injury to Claimant's ankle (Achilles tendon) but denied that Claimant sustained a consequential injury to his right knee due to the alleged post-surgery fall from his crutches. Employer maintained that Claimant had not timely reported the alleged consequential injury and by operation of 85 O.S. Supp.2010 § 24.2(A), it was presumed Claimant's knee injury was unrelated to his work. Employer further maintained that Claimant's knee problems pre-existed his August 23, 2011 fall or were the result of an unrelated subsequent injury that happened when he slipped on some liquid on the floor at work on August 12, 2012.
¶ 6 The matter was tried on the issue of medical treatment to Claimant's right knee. Claimant testified that he called Dr. Geib's office after he fell and spoke to Dr. Geib's physician assistant (P.A.). He stated the P.A. advised him to elevate his leg and avoid weight-bearing. Claimant testified that he also called Employer's executive director, Alun Skitt, and orally reported the knee injury. Employer's cross-examination of Claimant focused on causation and Claimant's credibility.
¶ 7 Employer presented witnesses who disputed Claimant's testimony. Employer's human resources director testified that at no time during 2011 had Claimant ever mentioned injuring his right knee or requested that Employer provide him medical treatment specifically for his knee. She testified she had observed Claimant walk with a limp prior to his August 1, 2011 ankle injury. She was aware that Claimant had injured his right knee at work on August 12, 2012, because Claimant had provided a detailed written injury report on that same day.
¶ 8 Alun Skitt, who was also Claimant's personal friend, testified that Claimant never reported a work-related injury or requested medical care for his knee. Skitt maintained he first learned of Claimant's alleged consequential right knee injury on receipt of Claimant's Form 3.
¶ 9 The medical evidence admitted at trial was conflicting. Claimant submitted the deposition of Dr. Geib and medical expert Dr. Litchfield for "substantive purposes." Employer had no objection to either deposition. Dr. Geib recommended that Claimant undergo a total knee arthroplasty based on his opinion that knee arthroscopy in the form of a partial medial meniscectomy would not permanently resolve his symptoms or provide him much relief. In a report dated September 19, 2012, Dr. Litchfield concluded that Claimant had suffered a "consequential injury to the right leg/knee resulting in anatomical abnormalities consistent with chondral injury and meniscal/ligamentous tear." Dr. Litchfield stated: "It is my opinion that if it were not for the surgery of the right/ankle foot and [Claimant] being unsteady on his feet in the post operative period, that [he] would not have fallen." Dr. Litchfield further opined that Claimant's employment was the major cause of the need for treatment to his right leg/knee and that Claimant should be referred back to Dr. Geib for recommended treatment.
¶ 10 Employer submitted the report of its medical expert Dr. Young, which the trial court admitted over Claimant's probative value objection. It was Dr. Young's opinion that Claimant had not sustained a consequential injury and had sustained no permanent partial impairment or permanent anatomical abnormality to the right leg as a result of his accident on August 1, 2011.
¶ 11 The trial court had appointed Dr. Hargrove as an independent medical examiner (IME) to determine Claimant's need for medical treatment to his right knee and the reasonableness and necessity of the surgery recommended by treating physician Dr. Geib. The trial court also requested the IME to make specific recommendations regarding Claimant's treatment and address the need for diagnostic tests. In his assessment of Claimant the IME stated: "The patient reports being asymptomatic prior to the incident that occurred immediately post operatively while protecting his Achilles tendon rupture, which is an on the job injury." The IME noted that prior to December 2011, Dr. Geib had been treating Claimant "acutely for Achilles tendon reconstruction [that] was very slow to heal." The IME also noted that "Dr. Geib had commented that the patient had fallen post operatively and this eventually led to the formal knee evaluation." The IME agreed that Dr. Geib's recommendation of a total knee arthroplasty was an appropriate surgery. The IME's report was admitted as the court's exhibit over Employer's probative value objection, specifically: "Your Honor, our objection relates to the fact that we believe the injury, as alleged, took place [in] August 2012."
¶ 12 On January 25, 2013, the trial court entered its order authorizing medical treatment. The trial court noted in its order that Employer had admitted the accidental injury to Claimant's right foot. The trial court found that Claimant sustained a consequential injury to the right leg/knee (aggravation of pre-existing condition) arising out of and in the course of his employment and that the major cause of that consequential injury was the result of Claimant slipping and falling while attempting to stand on his crutches after the right foot surgery. The trial court denied Employer's defenses of subsequent/intervening injury and pre-existing condition "based on testimony and medical evidence." The trial court ordered Employer to provide reasonable and necessary medical treatment with Dr. Geib for Claimant's right foot and right leg.
¶ 13 Employer appealed to a three-judge panel. The panel affirmed the trial court's order finding it neither contrary to law nor against the clear weight of the evidence. It is from this order that Employer appeals.2
¶ 14 Issues of whether Claimant sustained a compensable consequential injury and the need for requested medical treatment have been historically viewed as involving factual determinations to be resolved by the Workers' Compensation Court. Berg v. Parker Drilling Co., 2004 OK 72, ¶ 13, 98 P.3d 1099, 1101. "The standard of review applicable to a workers' compensation appeal is that which is in effect when the claim accrues." Williams Cos., Inc. v. Dunkelgod, 2012 OK 96, ¶ 18, 295 P.3d 1107, 1113. The amendment authorizing review of an order or award to determine whether it was against the clear weight of the evidence applies to claims for injuries that occur after the effective date of the amendment. 85 O.S. Supp.2010 § 3.6(C) became effective November 1, 20103 , and therefore is applicable to Claimant's August 2011 injuries. Cattlemen's Steakhouse, Inc. v. Waldenville, 2013 OK 95, ¶ 7, 318 P.3d 1105. In relevant part, the statute provides that the appellate court may "modify, reverse, remand for rehearing, or set aside the order or award upon any of the following grounds:"
4. The order or award was against the clear weight of the evidence.
¶ 15 Accordingly, we review the Workers' Compensation Court's resolution of the questions of fact at issue in this appeal to determine if it is against the clear weight of the evidence. The statute...
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