Title: Matter of Injury to Carpenter

State: wyoming

Issuer: Wyoming Supreme Court

Document:

Matter of Injury to Carpenter1987 WY 52736 P.2d 311Case Number: 87-37, 87-38Decided: 05/01/1987Supreme Court of Wyoming
In 
the Matter of the INJURY TO Melvin D. CARPENTER, an Employee of Mountain States 
Telephone & Telegraph Company; MOUNTAIN STATES TELEPHONE & TELEGRAPH 
COMPANY, Appellant (Employer-Defendant)

 
 
v.

 
 
Melvin 
D. CARPENTER, Appellee (Employee-Claimant)

 
 
In 
the Matter of the Injury To Melvin D. Carpenter, an Employee of Mountain States 
Telephone & Telegraph Company; Melvin D. CARPENTER, Appellant 
(Employee-Claimant)

 
 
v.

 
 
MOUNTAIN 
STATES TELEPHONE & TELEGRAPH COMPANY, Appellee 
(Employer-Defendant)

 
 
Richard 
J. Nardi for Melvin D. Carpenter.

 
 
John 
M. Walker and Paul J. Hickey for Mountain States Telephone & Telegraph 
Company. 

 
 
Before 
Brown, C.J., and Thomas, Cardine, Urbigkit, and Macy, JJ. 

 
 
MACY, 
Justice.

 
 
[¶1.]     The district court 
awarded Melvin Carpenter 15% permanent partial disability benefits under the 
Wyoming Worker's Compensation Act. On appeal, the employer, Mountain States 
Telephone & Telegraph Company, objects that the award was not supported by 
the evidence, while Carpenter complains that the trial judge improperly relied 
exclusively upon medical evidence of his disability.

 
 

[¶1.]     We 
affirm.

 
 

[¶2.]     Carpenter was born with 
asthma (asymptomatic congenital reactive airway disease). He had worked as a 
laborer, carpenter, and mechanic. He is a trained mechanic and had been employed 
in that capacity by Mountain States for five years. The garage in which he 
worked accumulated gasoline and diesel fumes and exhaust, especially during the 
winter. Carpenter had been a moderate smoker for approximately ten years when, 
in the spring of 1984, he suffered from a respiratory infection which triggered 
his asthma symptoms. He then quit smoking and continued to work until June 1985, 
which was as long as he could tolerate the polluted atmosphere in the garage. 
Mountain States objected to his worker's compensation 
claim.

 
 

[¶3.]     The trial judge found 
that Dr. Bindschadler's testimony was competent medical authority that the claim 
arose out of and in the scope of employment, that there was a direct causal 
connection between the working conditions and the disease, that the aggravation 
of the disease was a natural incident of the work, that the employment was a 
proximate cause of the aggravation of the disease, that the hazard which 
aggravated the disease was not one to which the employee was equally exposed 
outside work, and that the aggravation was incidental to the character of the 
business, as required by § 27-12-603 (a), W.S.1977. The trial court did not 
decide that the work environment caused the infection which triggered the 
symptoms; rather, it found that, given Carpenter's nonwork-related symptomatic 
asthma, the work environment caused disability by aggravating the 
symptoms.

 
 

[¶4.]     It is well established 
that the employer must take the employee as he finds him. Lindbloom v. Teton 
International, Wyo., 684 P.2d 1388 (1984); Associated Seed Growers, Inc. 
v. Scrogham, 52 Wyo. 232, 73 P.2d 300 (1937). Subsequent aggravation of a 
preexisting condition by employment is a compensable injury. Lindbloom v. 
Teton International, 684 P.2d at 1389-90; Jim's Water Service v. 
Eayrs, Wyo., 590 P.2d 1346 (1979). Whether the employment actually 
aggravated the condition is a question of fact for the trial court. Lindbloom 
v. Teton International, 694 P.2d  at 1390; 1 Larson, Workmen's Compensation 
Law § 12.21 (1985). When reviewing factual determinations, this Court must 
determine whether sufficient evidence supports them. We look only to the 
evidence of the prevailing party, giving it every favorable inference, and leave 
out of consideration any evidence which conflicts with it. Abas v. State ex 
rel. Wyoming Worker's Compensation Division, Wyo., 701 P.2d 1153 (1985); 
State ex rel. Wyoming Worker's Compensation Division v. Colvin, Wyo., 681 P.2d 269 (1984).

 
 

[¶5.]     In the case at bar, Dr. 
Bindschadler testified that, given the onset of the symptoms, neither the 
pollution in the garage nor the smoking was an initial inciting agent. He 
explained that hydrocarbons and sulfur and nitrogen compounds and particulate 
matter in exhaust can trigger asthma symptoms. It was his opinion that, to a 
reasonable medical certainty, the work environment was a contributing factor to 
the post-infection, ongoing irritation, and symptoms. He testified that the 
environment outside work was less polluted. He said that smoking and pollution 
were important contributing factors once Carpenter became symptomatic. Dr. 
Huffman agreed that the polluted environment could have contributed to the 
aggravation of the symptoms. This evidence, coupled with evidence that the 
garage was polluted and that Carpenter quit smoking, is sufficient to support 
the trial court's factual findings.

 
 

[¶6.]     The district court 
found a disability rating of 15%, the maximum Dr. Bindschadler recommended. Dr. 
Bindschadler testified that he calculated only the physical disability, from a 
medical point of view, and did not consider Carpenter's ability to find work in 
arriving at a 10-15% disability rating. This Court has indicated that, in 
determining the percentage of disability, the trial court may consider evidence 
other than the doctor's testimony or opinion of a percentage disability rating, 
Rose v. Westates Construction Co., Wyo., 703 P.2d 1084 (1985), and is not 
bound by the doctor's percentage. State ex rel. Wyoming Worker's Compensation 
Division v. Colvin, 681 P.2d  at 272. Here, the court heard evidence that 
Carpenter could not find mechanics work because he could not tolerate the fumes, 
that he could not find other labor because he did not have the stamina to work 
all day long, and that he had no training for clerical or sedentary work. 
Carpenter has not referred this Court to anything in the record which indicates 
that the trial court refused to consider this evidence in arriving at a 15% 
disability rating. The extent and duration of a disability are questions of fact 
for the court's determination. Rose v. Westates Construction Co., 703 P.2d  at 1089; Pacific Power and Light v. Parsons, Wyo., 692 P.2d 226 
(1984); Lindbloom v. Teton International, 684 P.2d  at 1390. Sufficient 
evidence supports the trial court's determination that Carpenter was 15% 
disabled, and we will not disturb that finding.

 
 

[¶7.]     
Affirmed.