Title: Stannard v. Stannard Co., Inc.

State: vermont

Issuer: Vermont Supreme Court

Document:

Stannard v. Stannard Co., Inc. (2002-378); 175 Vt. 549; 830 A.2d 66

2003 VT 52

[Filed 29-May-2003]

                                 ENTRY ORDER

                                 2003 VT 52

                      SUPREME COURT DOCKET NO. 2002-378

                              APRIL TERM, 2003

  James Stannard	                }	APPEALED FROM:
                                        }
                                        }
       v.	                        }	Bennington Superior Court
                                        }
  Stannard Company, Inc., CNA Insurance	}
  Company, Peerless Insurance, Vermont	}	DOCKET NO. 402-11-01 Bncv
  Property and Casualty Insurance	
  Trial Judge: Richard W. Norton

             In the above-entitled cause, the Clerk will enter:

       ¶  1.  CNA Insurance Company (CNA) appeals a superior court order
  holding CNA, and not its successor insurers Peerless Insurance and Vermont
  Property and Casualty Insurance, liable for workers' compensation benefits
  related to the osteoarthritic condition of claimant James Stannard's right
  and left knees.  Stannard, a plumber with the Stannard Company, suffered
  several injuries that aggravated and accelerated the underlying arthritic
  condition in his knees during the ten years that CNA carried the Stannard
  Company's workers' compensation insurance.  The trial court held that
  Stannard's continued work as a plumber for three years after CNA was
  replaced on the risk by the two other insurance companies did not
  sufficiently aggravate or accelerate his medical condition so as to
  constitute a new injury, and therefore CNA remained solely liable for the
  recurrence of Stannard's osteoarthritic condition.  We affirm.

       ¶  2.  James Stannard worked full-time for his family's plumbing and
  heating company for thirty-two years, from age eighteen until he was forced
  by his knee injuries to cease work at age fifty.  During an average day,
  Stannard spent approximately sixty-five percent of his time on his knees,
  repeatedly rising and squatting.  His work also involved standing on hard
  surfaces, performing twisting movements, and repeatedly going up and down
  stairs, often while carrying a five-gallon tool pail weighing between
  thirty-five and forty pounds.  Additionally, because of his strength and
  large size, Stannard did much of the company's heavy lifting, such as
  downloading 800-pound boilers by rope and working as the "low man" when
  carrying old bathtubs, toilets, and radiators up and down stairs.  He was
  often given the job of breaking apart old plumbing fixtures with a sledge
  hammer and hauling them away.
   
       ¶  3.  During the last thirteen years of Stannard's career, three
  companies provided the Stannard Company with workers' compensation
  insurance.  CNA carried the insurance from March 30, 1985 to March 30,
  1995; the Peerless Insurance Company covered March 30, 1995 to March 30,
  1997; and United Pacific covered from March 30, 1997 until Stannard's last
  day of work on June 5, 1998.  Since then, the Vermont Property and Casualty
  Insurance Guaranty Association has assumed United Pacific's obligations.

       ¶  4.  Stannard initially sought treatment for pain and swelling in
  his right knee in 1980 and 1983.  In 1985, he had arthroscopic surgery to
  repair a torn meniscus in that knee.  Stannard filed a first report of
  injury with the Department of Labor and Industry (Department) for his right
  knee some time during that period.  During surgery, it was discovered that
  Stannard was suffering early degenerative changes in the right knee from
  osteoarthritis.  Stannard returned to work, but filed additional claims
  with the Department for work-related injuries to his right knee in 1992,
  1993, and 1994.  In 1998, three years after CNA had left the risk, Stannard
  filed a claim with the Department that the knee surgery he had undergone
  years earlier was no longer sufficient and that the right knee joint was
  "gone."  In June of 1998, Stannard underwent a less invasive high tibial
  osteotomy instead of a total knee replacement in hopes of being able to
  continue working.  Complications from the surgery lasted several months,
  however, and the subsequent and enduring pain - together with the
  anticipated surgery on his other knee - forced Stannard to give up any
  hopes of returning to work as a plumber.  He is now awaiting a total right
  knee replacement.

       ¶  5.  Regarding his left knee, Stannard filed his first report of
  injury with the Department after stepping into a hole and twisting his knee
  while working in 1989.  Stannard then underwent arthroscopic surgery to
  repair a tear in the posterior horn of the medial meniscus.  In the
  process, cartilage damage possibly indicating a very early stage of
  osteoarthritis was discovered.  Stannard filed another claim after
  re-injuring the left knee from a fall at work in 1994.  He continued both
  to work and treat the left knee in the same manner as his right knee, and
  in 1998 filed a claim with the Department that his left knee was also
  "gone."  In 1999, the ongoing pain in his left knee became intolerable. 
  Based on the ineffectiveness and complications from the high tibial
  osteotomy on his right knee, Stannard elected to have a total left knee
  replacement.  Following several months of therapy, Stannard reached a
  medical end result for his left knee sometime before the end of August
  2000.

       ¶  6.     Stannard subsequently filed for workers' compensation
  benefits, and the parties litigated before the Department in 2001.  After a
  hearing, the Commissioner of Labor and Industry (Commissioner) concluded,
  in relevant part, that Stannard's bilateral osteoarthritic knee condition
  is a compensable injury under the Vermont Workers' Compensation Act, 21
  V.S.A. § 601-711 (the Act), and that CNA was responsible for payment of all
  benefits because (1) Stannard's knee injuries arose out of his employment
  as a plumber while CNA was on the risk, and (2) Stannard's current
  condition was a recurrence of injuries that had reached their full extent
  prior to 1995.  While the Commissioner agreed that Stannard's continued
  employment after 1995 clearly aggravated his symptomology, i.e. his level
  of pain, the Commissioner held that the work did not aggravate or causally
  contribute to his underlying disability.
        
       ¶  7.  On appeal, pursuant to 21 V.S.A. § 671, the Commissioner
  certified two questions to the Bennington Superior Court: (1) whether
  Stannard's bilateral osteoarthritic knee condition is a compensable injury
  under the Act, and (2) if so, which carrier is responsible for benefits
  related to Stannard's (a) right knee and (b) left knee.  Although entitled
  to a de novo hearing, the parties stipulated to waive live testimony and
  submitted the case on the record produced before the Department.  The trial
  court subsequently concluded that Stannard had made out a compensable claim
  since, although his underlying osteoarthritic condition may have
  pre-existed the 1985 and 1989 injuries, those injuries and his working
  conditions at a minimum aggravated and accelerated this disease.  The court
  also held that Stannard's deteriorating post-1995 condition was wholly
  attributable to his earlier injuries, and that the medical evidence did not
  show that Stannard's weight or continued work as a plumber after 1995
  sufficiently accelerated, aggravated, or combined with the pre-existing
  injury so as to produce a greater disability than he would have otherwise
  experienced.  The trial court therefore held CNA solely responsible for all
  of Stannard's workers' compensation claims.  This appeal followed.

       ¶  8.  A trial court's conclusions that address mixed questions of
  law and fact will be upheld so long as the court applied the correct legal
  standard and the conclusions are supported by the findings.  Landmark Trust
  (USA), Inc. v. Goodhue, 172 Vt. 515, 519,