Title: King v. Dept. of Human Services

State: hawaii

Issuer: Hawaii Supreme Court

Document:

IBRARY

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No, 25128

 

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF HAWAT!_

vi ua

ANNIE KING, Appellant,

 

   

80:6 HY

DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES and LILLIAN B, KOLLER,*
DIRECTOR OF HUMAN SERVICES in her official capacity,
Appellees

 

 

APPEAL FROM THE THIRD CIRCUIT COURT
(CIV. NO. 02-1-0005)

(By: Moon, C.J., Levinson, Nakayama, Acoba, and Duffy, JJ.)
Appellant Annie King appeals from the May 14, 2002

judgment of the Circuit Court of che Third Circuit, the Honorable
Greg K, Nakamura presiding, affirming an administrative hearing
decision of the Department of Hunan Services (DHS) denying King’s
application for general assistance benefits, on appeal, King
contends that the circuit court erred in: (1) finding that DHS
aid not have a policy favoring the opinion of the examining

physician over that of the treating physicians; (2) failing to

+ Gusan Chandler, former director of the Department of iinan Services,
has been substituted with Lillian 5. Koller, the current director, pursuant to
Mavai't Rules of Appellate Procedure Rule 43(¢) (2000)

 

 
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apply the “treating doctor rule” in determining whether
substantial evidence supported the hearing officer’s decieion;
and (3) finding that the hearing officer's decision was supported
by the record.

upon carefully reviewing the record and the briefs
submitted by the parties and having given due consideration to
the issues raised and the argunents presented, we hold a
follows: (1) although the hearing officer’s findings regarding
DHS’s policy favoring the opinion of the examining physician was
not clearly erroneous, based on the record, the circuit court aia
not err in finding that the hearing officer did not give a
presumption to the DHS examiner’s conclusions over those of the
treating physicians; (2) King fails to denonstrate chat the
federal courts’ rulings regarding benefits under the Social
Security Act and the Enployee Retirement Incone Security Act of
1974 are applicable to the determination of eligibility for
benefits under Hawai'i Revised Statutes § 346-1 (Supp. 2001);
(3) the hearing officer’s statenent regarding the possibility of
malingering is not a finding of ultimate fact, see In ze Kauai
blec, Div. of Citizens Urility co., 60 Haw. 166, 184, 590 P.2d
524, 537 (1978); and (4) the report of Bruce Hansen, Ph.D. and
the testinony of Wallace Chun, N.D. constitute sufficient

evidence to support the hearing officer's decision. Therefore,
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IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the May 14, 2002 judgment of
the Circuit Court of the Third Circuit is affirmed.

DATED: Honolulu, Hawai'i, May 11, 2005.

on the briefs: Gyro

David Kimo Frankel, for LERHoame~

appellant

(withdrew 11/27/04) Bien Dee ain
Heidi M. Rian and
Wendy 3. Ucsuni, e mA

Deputy Attorneys General,
for appellees Yume aig Or

Counsel of record:

Gary Y. Murai, for
appellant
(appeared 11/17/04)

 

No. 25128 King v. Dep't of Human Servs. -- Summary

‘sposition Order

 

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