Skahan v. Stutts Constr. Co.
| Decision Date | 08 January 2021 |
| Docket Number | SCWC-19-0000077,SCWC-16-0000663,SCWC-16-0000664 |
| Citation | 478 P.3d 285 |
| Parties | Kenneth M. SKAHAN, Petitioner/Claimant-Appellant/Appellant, v. STUTTS CONSTRUCTION COMPANY, INC., Respondent/Employer-Cross-Appellant/Appellee, and First Insurance Company of Hawaii, Ltd., Respondent/Insurance Carrier-Cross-Appellant/Appellee. (Case No.: AB 2014-019 (WH); DCD No.: 9-04-45072(M)) Kenneth M. Skahan, Petitioner/Claimant-Appellant, v. Stutts Construction Company, Inc., Respondent/Employer-Appellee, and First Insurance Company of Hawaii, Ltd., Respondent/Insurance Carrier-Appellee. (Case No.: AB 2014-041 (WH); DCD No.: 9-13-45106(M)) Kenneth M. Skahan, Petitioner/Claimant-Appellant, v. Stutts Construction Company, Inc., Respondent/Employer-Appellee, and First Insurance Company of Hawaii, Ltd., Respondent/Insurance Carrier-Appellee. (Case No.: AB 2015-374 (M); DCD No.: 7-14-45105) |
| Court | Hawaii Supreme Court |
Kenneth M. Skahan, Pro se
Beverly S.K. Tom and Gary N. Kunihiro, Honolulu, for Respondents
These consolidated cases arise from pro se litigant Kenneth Skahan's ("Skahan") claims for workers’ compensation benefits against his former employer, Stutts Construction Company ("Stutts"), and its insurance carrier, First Insurance Company of Hawai‘i (collectively with Stutts, "Employer").
On November 30, 2004, Skahan injured his back while working for Stutts, and Stutts accepted workers’ compensation liability for the injury. On June 12, 2012, after Skahan's employment with Stutts had ended, Skahan experienced mid and low back pain while wading in the ocean. Skahan was subsequently diagnosed with Diffuse Idiopathic Skeletal Hyperostosis
("DISH")1 affecting his thoracic spine, and he filed multiple claims for additional workers’ compensation benefits against Employer.
The Labor and Industrial Relations Appeals Board ("LIRAB") issued three decisions. On June 17, 2016, LIRAB determined Skahan's DISH injury was compensable because it was causally related to the November 30, 2004 work injury, but his low back injury was not compensable because it was not causally related to the November 30, 2004 work injury. On June 21, 2016, LIRAB determined the dates for which Skahan was entitled to temporary total disability ("TTD") benefits. In a January 3, 2019 decision, LIRAB again stated that Skahan's DISH injury was related to his November 30, 2004 work injury.2
Skahan appealed all three LIRAB decisions. The Intermediate Court of Appeals ("ICA") consolidated and addressed Skahan's appeals of LIRAB's June 21, 2016 and January 3, 2019 decisions in a summary disposition order ("SDO"), and it addressed Skahan's appeal of LIRAB's June 17, 2016 decision in a separate SDO. Ultimately, the ICA affirmed all three LIRAB decisions. We accepted and have consolidated Skahan's applications for writ of certiorari from both SDOs, and we rule as follows.
The ICA erred in holding that Employer rebutted the Hawai‘i Revised Statutes ("HRS") § 386-85 (2015) presumption that Skahan's low back claim was for a covered work injury. In addition, LIRAB's finding that Skahan's injury was "permanent and stationary and at maximum medical improvement" by April 19, 2013 is clearly erroneous, and LIRAB's COL ending Skahan's TTD benefits on April 19, 2013 is also clearly erroneous as it is not supported by the record. The additional issues raised by Skahan on certiorari are without merit.3
We therefore vacate the ICA's May 19, 2020 judgment on appeal affirming LIRAB's June 17, 2016 decision and also vacate in part the ICA's May 27, 2020 judgment on appeal affirming LIRAB's June 21, 2016 and January 3, 2019 decisions and we remand to LIRAB for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
On November 30, 2004, Skahan injured his back while working for Stutts, and Employer accepted liability for the injury. Skahan was treated by doctor Lora Aller ("Dr. Aller"), who diagnosed him with a chest and thoracic spine strain and opined that Skahan was temporarily disabled from working. Dr. Aller released Skahan to return to work on August 8, 2005. Employer ended Skahan's TTD benefits on October 4, 2005, and Skahan requested a hearing with the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations Disability Compensation Division ("DCD"). On January 6, 2006, DCD issued its decision determining that the termination of TTD was proper. DCD left the matters of permanent disability and disfigurement to be determined at a later date. Skahan did not appeal.
On June 12, 2012, Skahan experienced pain in his back while wading in the ocean. Skahan no longer worked for Stutts at the time of the injury. In a June 27, 2012 letter to First Insurance, Skahan stated that he had reinjured his back and asked to change physicians because Dr. Aller had left the state. The letter claimed the "date of injury" was November 30, 2004, but it did not explain how Skahan had injured his back. Skahan asked First Insurance to "respond quickly as [he was] in a great deal of pain and [was] having difficulty breathing." First Insurance did not respond.
On July 3, 2012, Skahan filed a claim for workers’ compensation against Employer listing the date of accident as November 30, 2004 and seeking to reopen his prior claim. In an August 16, 2012 letter to First Insurance, Skahan stated that this was "not a new injury," but an aggravation of the November 30, 2004 work injury. In a September 12, 2012 letter to DCD, Skahan further explained that he had been unable to see a doctor because they did not take workers’ compensation patients or would not see him without the insurer's approval, First Insurance had not allowed him to change physicians, and he could not afford to see a physician without insurance.
Skahan was eventually treated by Dr. Capen and saw him on an almost monthly basis beginning on November 16, 2012. Dr. Capen's November 16, 2012 initial physician's report diagnosed Skahan with a thoracic spine strain. Dr. Capen's December 28, 2012 report described Skahan's June 12, 2012 injury as an aggravation or recurrence of his November 30, 2004 injury. In an April 19, 2013 report, Dr. Capen concluded that Skahan was "never going back to doing heavy work." Dr. Capen connected Skahan's low back injury to the November 30, 2004 injury.
At Employer's request, Skahan was also evaluated by doctor Lorne Direnfeld ("Dr. Direnfeld"). In his July 19, 2013 report, Dr. Direnfeld opined that Skahan suffered from DISH, the November 30, 2004 accident had caused his DISH to become symptomatic, and the June 12, 2012 injury "may represent a non-work related symptomatic aggravation" of his DISH. Dr. Direnfeld disagreed with Dr. Capen's opinion that Skahan's low back injury was caused by the November 30, 2004 work accident, as no investigation of Skahan's lumbar spine had been required in relation to the November 30, 2004 work accident and Skahan had suffered a low back injury before the November 30, 2004 work accident. Dr. Direnfeld noted that Skahan himself attributed his low back problems to a previous 1994 injury.
On August 19, 2013, Skahan filed a claim for workers’ compensation against Employer describing his injury as an occupational disease affecting his low and mid back and "a preexisting [a]symptomatic condition which was first evident in 2004," and stating that the "date of accident" was April 7, 2013.4 The claim also stated that Skahan had filed for DISH injury benefits, and that his DISH was causally related to the November 30, 2004 injury.
On January 10, 2014, DCD issued its decision denying Skahan's August 19, 2013 claim. DCD found that Skahan was not employed by Stutts on April 7, 2013 and did not suffer injuries "arising out of and in the course of employment" under HRS §§ 386-3 (2015)5 and 386-85.6 Skahan appealed DCD's decision to LIRAB.
On June 17, 2016, LIRAB issued its decision reversing in part DCD's January 10, 2014 decision. LIRAB credited Dr. Direnfeld's opinion that Skahan's thoracic spine symptoms were due to DISH, his DISH became symptomatic as a result of the November 30, 2004 incident, and his DISH was attributable to his work for Stutts. While DCD had construed Skahan's August 19, 2013 claim as a claim for new injury, LIRAB found that Skahan's claim was actually a "claim for DISH that was causally related to the November 30, 2004 work accident," and that his DISH claim should be decided under his November 30, 2004 injury claim. LIRAB concluded that Employer failed to rebut the presumption that Skahan's DISH was a covered work injury.
However, LIRAB also found that Employer had presented evidence from Dr. Direnfeld that Skahan's low back injury was not related to the November 30, 2004 injury, and Dr. Capen did not provide an opinion connecting Skahan's low back injury to the November 30, 2004 work injury. LIRAB determined that, therefore, Employer met its burdens of production and persuasion to show that Skahan's low back condition was not causally related to the November 30, 2004 injury, and it denied his low back claim.
On July 11, 2016, Skahan filed a motion for reconsideration, which LIRAB also denied. Skahan appealed LIRAB's June 17, 2016 decision and order denying motion for reconsideration to the ICA.
Skahan raised various points of error challenging nearly all of LIRAB's June 17, 2016 findings of fact ("FOFs") and conclusions of law ("COLs"). The relevant point of error is Skahan's claim that Employer did not meet its burden of production regarding his low back condition because Dr. Direnfeld's opinion did not address whether the November 30, 2004 work injury could have aggravated or accelerated his condition.
On April 1, 2020, the ICA issued its SDO affirming LIRAB's decision. Skahan v. Stutts Construction...
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