Case Title: Lindbloom v. Teton Intern.

Citation: 

Docket Number: 

State: wyoming

Court: Wyoming Supreme Court

Date: 1984-08-02T00:00:00Z

Document:
Lindbloom v. Teton Intern.1984 WY 79684 P.2d 1388Case Number: 83-247Decided: 08/02/1984IN THE MATTER OF THE CLAIM FOR WORKER'S COMPENSATION. STEVE LINDBLOOM, APPELLANT (EMPLOYEE-CLAIMANT), 

v. 

TETON INTERNATIONAL, APPELLEE (EMPLOYER-DEFENDANT).
Supreme Court of Wyoming
IN THE MATTER OF THE 
CLAIM FOR WORKER'S COMPENSATION. STEVE LINDBLOOM, APPELLANT (EMPLOYEE-CLAIMANT), 

v. 

TETON INTERNATIONAL, 
APPELLEE (EMPLOYER-DEFENDANT).

 
 
Appeal from the District 
Court, NatronaCounty, Dan Spangler, 
J.

 
 
David A. Drell, 
Casper, for appellant.

Harry E. 
Leimback, Casper, for appellee.

Before ROONEY, C.J., and 
THOMAS, ROSE, BROWN and CARDINE, JJ.

ROONEY, Chief 
Justice.

[¶1.]     Appellant-employee, 
Steve Lindbloom, was denied benefits by the district court under the Wyoming 
Worker's Compensation Act for medical and hospital expenses, as well as 
temporary total disability for injury suffered to his right leg while in the 
course of employment with appellee, Teton International.

[¶2.]     We affirm the district 
court's ruling.

[¶3.]     The injury occurred on 
April 6, 1983. Appellant was carrying a box of tools to a rental unit he was to 
service when he slipped on some ice and his right knee popped out of its 
socket.

[¶4.]     Appellant had suffered 
a similar dislocation of his left knee on January 15, 1982, while employed by 
appellee, when a roll of roofing metal fell, causing him to fall off a scaffold. 
At that time appellant went to Dr. Landon, whose deposition was introduced at 
the hearing in district court. Dr. Landon there testified in 
part:

"Q. (BY MR. GUETZ) 
Doctor, have you had occasion to examine Steve Lindbloom?

"A. Yes. I saw him the 
first time January 26th, 1982, a referral from Doctor Summers. And he came in 
complaining of bilateral knee pain, knee pain on both sides. Both knees were 
bothering him.

"Q. Both 
knees?

"A. Both knees * * 
*."

[¶5.]     In response to the 
question as to whether Dr. Landon had obtained a medical history from appellant, 
he said:

"A. He stated that the 
right kneecap had gone out once and his left had also gone out once. And at the 
time I saw him, he didn't - I don't have in my record and I do not recall how 
they occurred - that his left knee was still swollen at the time that he came 
into the office. On examination of his knees, both of them had what we call 
easily subluxatable patellas or kneecaps, which means that they - you could grab 
the kneecap and pull it partially out of the joint, both of 
them."

Dr. Landon put 
leg braces on him. But since they did not help much, Dr. Landon "recommended 
arthroscopic surgery on his knee and what's called a lateral release, which is a 
type of procedure done to release the pull on the kneecaps so they wouldn't go 
out of joint."

[¶6.]     However, appellant 
elected not to have the recommended surgery at that time. He did have the 
surgery after the April 6 injury to his right knee, and he filed a Worker's 
Report of Accident and Claim for Award. Appellee objected to payment of the 
medical or temporary disability claims of appellant. After a hearing, the 
district court issued a Decision Letter and an Order denying the claims inasmuch 
as the appellant knew he needed knee surgery prior to the April 6 injury, and 
there was no evidence that the injury made his knee worse or that the surgery 
eventually performed was any different than the earlier recommended surgery. The 
district court also ruled that appellant could not recover for any problems in 
connection with his left knee, as it was not related to the injury under 
consideration in this claim.

[¶7.]     Appellant states the 
issue on appeal, very simply, as follows:

"WHETHER THE DISTRICT 
COURT ERRED IN FINDING THAT THE EMPLOYEE'S INJURY WAS NOT COMPENSABLE UNDER THE 
WYOMING 
WORKER'S COMPENSATION ACT."

[¶8.]     The duty of the 
reviewing court in worker's compensation cases is to search the record to 
determine the presence or absence of substantial evidence to support the 
district court. Olson v. Federal American 
Partners, Wyo., 567 P.2d 710, 712 (1977). Where a 
finding of fact is supported by substantial evidence, the judgment of the trier 
of fact will not be disturbed. Williams 
v. Northern Development Co., Wyo., 425 P.2d 594, 595 
(1967).

[¶9.]     Appellant correctly 
notes that in Wyoming an employer takes the employee as he 
finds him.

"* * * Compensation is 
not made to rest under our law upon the condition of health of the employee or 
upon his freedom from liability to injury through a constitutional weakness or 
latent tendency. An award is made for an injury which is a hazard of the 
employment, and as said by the Supreme Court of Massachusetts in the case of In re Madden, 222 Mass. 487, 111 N.E. 379, 382, L.R.A. 1916D, 1000, `it is the hazard of the employment acting upon 
the particular employee in his condition of health and not what that hazard 
would be if acting upon a healthy employee or upon the average employee. The act 
makes no distinction between wise or foolish, skilled or inexperienced, healthy 
or diseased employees. All who rightly are describable as employees come within 
the act.'" In re Scrogham, 52 
Wyo. 232, 73 P.2d 300, 307 (1937).

[¶10.]  The question then arises whether the work 
effort contributed to a material degree to the precipitation, aggravation or 
acceleration of the existing condition of the employee. Jim's Water Service v. Eayrs, Wyo., 590 P.2d 1346, 1349 
(1979).

"Preexisting disease or 
infirmity of the employee does not disqualify a claim under the `arising out of 
employment' requirement if the employment aggravated, accelerated, or combined 
with the disease or infirmity to produce the death or disability for which 
compensation is sought. * * *" 1 Larson's Workmen's Compensation Law, § 12.20, 
p. 3-276.

Larson's goes on 
to say, § 12.20, p. 3-316:

"Since the rule of law 
stated at the beginning of this section is so widely accepted, in practice most 
of the problems in this area are medical rather than legal. * * * It will be 
found, then, that denials of compensation in this category are almost entirely 
the result of holdings that the evidence did not support a finding that the 
employment contributed to the final result. Whether the employment aggravated, 
accelerated, or combined with the internal weakness or disease to produce the 
disability is a question of fact, not law, and a finding of fact on this point * 
* * based on any medical testimony * * * will not be disturbed on 
appeal."

[¶11.]  There is testimony in the record that 
when appellant slipped on the ice he fell to the ground in pain, and there was 
immediate swelling in his right knee. However, Dr. Landon 
testified:

"Steve, the patient, had 
very skinny legs with increased pull angle, which is an increased angle which 
makes him a little more prone to dislocation than someone that doesn't have 
quite as bad an angle of pull."

[¶12.]  He also testified that while trauma could 
aggravate or cause a condition such as what appellant suffered when he slipped 
on the ice, he made it clear that:

"Yes. It could cause the 
kneecaps to dislocate. It doesn't cause his increased angle of pull or anything 
like that, no."

[¶13.]  The surgery that was performed was to 
correct appellant's preexisting condition of easily subluxatable patellas. The 
injury on April 6 did not change the need for, or extent of, such 
surgery.

[¶14.]  If the disability in question results 
solely from the "natural and normal progress of the pre-existing condition," it 
is not a disease "attributable to industry and should not be saddled thereon." 
Tanenbaum v. Industrial Accident 
Commission, 4 Cal. 2d 615, 52 P.2d 215, 216 (1935). The trial court did not 
err in finding appellant's injury to be non-compensable. There was sufficient 
evidence to support the court's findings.

[¶15.]  Affirmed.