Wyoming Steel & Fab, Inc. v. Robles

• Decision Date: 07 October 1994
• Docket Number: No. 93-154,93-154
• Parties: WYOMING STEEL & FAB, INC., Appellant (Respondent), v. Roger ROBLES, Appellee (Petitioner).
• Court: Wyoming Supreme Court

Page 873

882 P.2d 873

WYOMING STEEL & FAB, INC., Appellant (Respondent), v. Roger ROBLES, Appellee (Petitioner).

No. 93-154.

Supreme Court of Wyoming.

Oct. 7, 1994.

Richard Mathey, Reese & Mathey, Green River, for appellant.

Michael J. Finn, Rock Springs, for appellee.

Before GOLDEN, C.J., and THOMAS, MACY and TAYLOR, JJ., and CARDINE, J., ^* Retired.

THOMAS, Justice.

The concern in this case is with the proper approach to judicial review when an administrative agency has ruled a party to a contested case hearing has failed to meet that party's burden of proof. In this worker's compensation case, the administrative hearing examiner ruled the injured workman had failed to meet his assigned burden of proof to establish the injury was work related. In a judicial review proceeding, the district court held the administrative agency had erred in failing to award worker's compensation benefits because there was substantial evidence in the record to demonstrate the injury was work related. The district court reversed the order of the administrative hearing examiner and ordered payment of the claimed benefits. We hold the district court erred by weighing the evidence, which is the agency prerogative, and the decision of the district court is reversed with instructions to affirm the decision of the administrative hearing examiner.

Wyoming Steel & Fab, Inc. (Wyoming Steel) in its Brief of Appellant offers these issues for resolution:

1. Were the correct standards of review properly applied by the District Court when it decided Appellee's Petition for Review from the Administrative Law Judge's ruling?

2. Applying the correct standards of appellate review, should the Administrative Law Judge's ruling be affirmed?

Roger Robles (Robles) in his Brief of Appellee defines only a single issue, which he states to be:

1. After hearing the trial of this matter, did the Office of Administrative Hearings ignore, overlook, or misinterpret relevant medical evidence which a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support the injured employee's claims for workers' compensation benefits?

Robles had suffered two serious injuries to his back: the first in 1985 while he was employed with L.M. Olsen; and the second in 1986 when he endeavored to pick up a motorcycle. On October 8, 1991, Robles was hired as a welder at Wyoming Steel. About a month later, on November 5, 1991, Robles hurt his back while at work. He was unable to continue working at his job, and he sought medical assistance from Dr. Joseph J. Oliver (Oliver). Oliver's diagnosis of Robles' medical condition was that he suffered from unilateral spondylolysis without spondylolisthesis. Oliver's medical records contained no information relating to any previous back injuries suffered by Robles. After treating Robles, Oliver released him to allow him to return to his regular work on November 20, 1991.

Robles applied for benefits under the Wyoming Worker's Compensation Act and received medical expenses and temporary total disability benefits for this injury from November 5, 1991 to November 20, 1991. Wyoming Steel did not object to the payment of these benefits and, in effect, conceded the November 5, 1991 injury was job related.

On December 7, 1991, Robles was attempting to clean out a clogged drain at his home. When he stood up from a squatting position, he suffered a recurrence of the back symptoms he had been experiencing. Ten days later, Robles applied for additional worker's compensation benefits. He sought medical expenses and lost wages due to temporary total disability from December 7 to December 31, 1991. Both the Workers' Compensation Division and Wyoming Steel objected to Robles' claim for these benefits. A contested case hearing then was conducted before the Office of Administrative Hearings with respect to Robles' additional claim for benefits, and the administrative hearing examiner determined the medical evidence presented was insufficient to justify a conclusion that the injury sustained at Robles' home on December 7, 1991 was a result of the job-related injury on November 5, 1991. The additional claim for benefits under the Worker's Compensation Act was denied.

Robles then pursued judicial review of the agency determination. The district court issued an Order Awarding Benefits and Remanding Case. The crux of the district court's justification for its order is found in its ruling that the administrative judge "ignored, overlooked, or misinterpreted the relevant evidence which a reasonable mind should have accepted as adequate to support the conclusion that the Claimant's back injury suffered on December 7, 1991, was related to, derived from, or arose out of the work related injury which had occurred on November 5, 1991." Wyoming Steel appealed from the order of the district court.

When review of an administrative order is sought, we are not compelled to accept any of the conclusions reached by the district court. Instead, our review is accomplished as if the case had come directly to this court from the agency. Mekss v. Wyoming Girls' Sch., State of Wyoming, 813 P.2d 185 (Wyo.1991), cert. denied, 502 U.S. 1032, 112 S.Ct. 872, 116 L.Ed.2d 777 (1992). In contested cases conducted before administrative agencies, the deference that normally is accorded the findings of fact by a trial court is extended to the administrative agency, and we do not adjust the decision of the agency unless it is clearly contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence on record. Mekss; State ex rel. Wyoming Workers' Compensation Div. v. Brown, 805 P.2d 830 (Wyo.1991). This is so because, in such an instance, the administrative body is the trier of fact and has the duty to weigh the evidence and determine the credibility of witnesses. Gilmore v. Oil and Gas Conservation Comm'n, 642 P.2d 773 (Wyo.1982).

Robles, as the plaintiff, had to assume the burden of proof in the contested case hearing, and that burden included an obligation to demonstrate the injury to his back on December 7, 1991 was attributable to the job-related injury, which he suffered on November 5, 1991. As to the burden of proof in workmen's compensation cases, we have said:

[W]e deem it important to point out that the burden is on a claimant of workmen's compensation benefits to show that he is entitled to an award of compensation. Jennings v. C.M. & W. Drilling Company, 77 Wyo. 69, 307 P.2d 122, 123-124; Bemis v. Texaco, Inc., Wyo., 400 P.2d 529, 531; In re Hardison, Wyo., 429 P.2d 320, 322; Sheridan Coal Co. v. Harnsberger, 43 Wyo. 226, 3 P.2d 80, 82; Associated Seed Growers, Inc. v. Scrogham, 52 Wyo. 232, 73 P.2d 300, 307.

Black Watch Farms v. Baldwin, 474 P.2d 297, 298 (Wyo.1970).

Wyoming Steel suggests this question is a novel one because we have not articulated a rule with respect to the process of judicial review of an agency finding the party charged with the burden of proof has failed to meet that burden. While Wyoming Steel may be correct in this position with respect to a concrete statement of a rule, we are satisfied the resolution of the issue is preordained by well-established rules. With respect to an affirmative ruling by an administrative agency in a workmen's compensation case, we summarized the rule in Sinclair Trucking v. Bailey, 848 P.2d 1349, 1351 (Wyo.1993), as follows:

Our standard for reviewing findings of fact made in an administrative worker's compensation hearing is well settled. If, after examining the entire record, we find substantial evidence to support the agency's finding, we will not substitute our own judgment for that of the agency. Instead, we will uphold the agency's finding. Substantial evidence is relevant evidence which a reasonable person might accept as supporting the agency finding. Aanenson v. State of Wyoming ex rel. Wyoming Worker's Compensation Division, 842 P.2d 1077, 1079 (Wyo.1992). In addition, we examine only the evidence which favors the prevailing party, allowing every favorable inference, while omitting consideration of any conflicting evidence. Matter of Injury to Carpenter, 736 P.2d 311, 312 (Wyo.1987).

To the same effect are Jaqua v. State ex rel. Wyoming Workers' Compensation Div., 873 P.2d 1219, 1220-21 (Wyo.1994); Bearden v. State ex rel. Wyoming Workers' Compensation Div., 868 P.2d 268, 269 (Wyo.1994); Romero v. Davy McKee Corp., 854 P.2d 59, 61 (Wyo.1993); and Matter of Farman, 841 P.2d 99, 102 (Wyo.1992). This is the applicable standard under which WYO.STAT. § 16-3-114(c)(ii)(E) (1990) ¹ demands that findings of fact are to be tested. This rule clearly encompasses the proposition that the reviewing court does not reweigh the evidence. On judicial review of an agency determination, the burden usually is assigned to the appellant to demonstrate that the agency's findings and conclusions are not supported by substantial evidence. Westates Constr. Co. v. Sheridan County Sch. Dist. No. 2, Bd. of Trustees, 719 P.2d 1366 (Wyo.1986). Mekss, 813 P.2d 185.

In this case, the agency ruled against Robles, and the district court ruled in his favor. Robles, as appellee, retains the burden of establishing the insufficiency of the evidence. Mountain Fuel Supply Co. v. Pub. Serv. Comm'n of Wyoming, 662 P.2d 878 (Wyo.1983); Bd. of Trustees of Sch. Dist. No. 4, Big Horn County v. Colwell, 611 P.2d 427 (Wyo.1980); Bd. of Trustees, Laramie County Sch. Dist. No. 1 v. Spiegel, 549 P.2d 1161 (Wyo.1976). In both Spiegel and Colwell, the appellees were dismissed from teaching positions by their respective school boards. Each appellee filed a complaint in the district court. The district courts reversed the dismissal of the teachers by the school boards. On appeal to this court the appellee, in each case, was assigned the burden of establishing insufficiency of the evidence to sustain the board's decision.

Wyoming Steel has the initial burden of persuasion to show the district court made an error of law when it applied an improper standard or rule or...