STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA
 

SUPREME COURT OF APPEALS FILED 

March 28, 2014 

RORY L. PERRY II, CLERK 

BRANDON GERACE, SUPREME COURT OF APPEALS 

OF WEST VIRGINIA 

Claimant Below, Petitioner 

vs.) No. 13-0137 (BOR Appeal No. 2047495) 

(Claim No. 2012001057) 

LOGAN HYDRAULICS COMPANY, 

Employer Below, Respondent 

MEMORANDUM DECISION 

Petitioner Brandon Gerace, by John Blair, his attorney, appeals the decision of the West 

Virginia Workers’ Compensation Board of Review. Logan Hydraulics Company, by Jeffrey 

Brannon and Shawna White, its attorneys, filed a timely response. 

This appeal arises from the Board of Review’s Final Order dated January 18, 2013, in 

which the Board affirmed a July 26, 2012, Order of the Workers’ Compensation Office of 

Judges. In its Order, the Office of Judges affirmed the claims administrator’s November 23, 

2011, decision closing Mr. Gerace’s claim for temporary total disability benefits. The Court has 

carefully reviewed the records, written arguments, and appendices contained in the briefs, and 

the case is mature for consideration. 

This Court has considered the parties’ briefs and the record on appeal. The facts and legal 

arguments are adequately presented, and the decisional process would not be significantly aided 

by oral argument. Upon consideration of the standard of review, the briefs, and the record 

presented, the Court finds no substantial question of law and no prejudicial error. For these 

reasons, a memorandum decision is appropriate under Rule 21 of the Rules of Appellate 

Procedure. 

On June 28, 2011, Mr. Gerace injured his right wrist while lifting a piece of sheet metal 

in the course of his employment as a welder with Logan Hydraulics Company. Later that day, 

Mr. Gerace was diagnosed with a right wrist sprain and an old right scaphoid fracture. On July 

19, 2011, the claim was held compensable for a right wrist sprain. Mr. Gerace began treating 

with Alan Koester, M.D., who diagnosed him with a right wrist sprain/strain with an underlying 

right scaphoid nonunion. Dr. Koester noted that the scaphoid nonunion occurred during a 

motorcycle accident five years earlier. He then concluded that the scaphoid nonunion was 

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aggravated by Mr. Gerace’s work-related injury. Dr. Koester performed a surgical stabilization 

of the scaphoid on October 13, 2011. On November 3, 2011, Prasadarao Mukkamala, M.D., 

performed an independent medical evaluation. Dr. Mukkamala concluded that the October 13, 

2011, surgery was not necessitated by the compensable injury. He further concluded that the 

compensable injury was a simple sprain/strain and that the surgery was performed to treat a 

nonunion of the scaphoid resulting from an earlier non-compensable injury. On November 23, 

2011, the claims administrator closed Mr. Gerace’s claim for temporary total disability benefits. 

In its Order affirming the November 23, 2011, claims administrator’s decision, the Office 

of Judges held that the evidence of record demonstrates that the claim was properly closed for 

temporary total disability benefits. Mr. Gerace disputes this finding and asserts that he required 

right wrist surgery as a result of his compensable right wrist sprain, and further asserts that the 

claim was improperly closed for temporary total disability benefits because he was still 

recovering from the right wrist surgery at the time of the closure for temporary total disability 

benefits. 

The Office of Judges concluded that Dr. Mukkamala’s determination that Mr. Gerace had 

reached maximum medical improvement on November 3, 2011, would in itself be sufficient to 

close the claim for temporary total disability benefits pursuant to West Virginia Code § 23-4-7a 

(2005). The Office of Judges then found that the evidentiary record establishes that Dr. Koester 

performed the afore-mentioned right wrist surgery in order to repair a scaphoid fracture of the 

right wrist, and further found that said right wrist fracture occurred during a 2006 non-workrelated motorcycle accident. The Office of Judges then noted that the only compensable 

diagnosis in the instant claim is a right wrist sprain, and found that the evidence of record does 

not indicate that the right wrist surgery was medically necessary or reasonably required to treat 

the compensable wrist sprain. The Board of Review reached the same reasoned conclusions in its 

decision of January 18, 2013. We agree with the reasoning and conclusions of the Board of 

Review. 

For the foregoing reasons, we find that the decision of the Board of Review is not in clear 

violation of any constitutional or statutory provision, nor is it clearly the result of erroneous 

conclusions of law, nor is it based upon a material misstatement or mischaracterization of the 

evidentiary record. Therefore, the decision of the Board of Review is affirmed. 

Affirmed. 

ISSUED: March 28, 2014 

CONCURRED IN BY: 

Chief Justice Robin J. Davis 

Justice Brent D. Benjamin 

Justice Margaret L. Workman 

Justice Menis E. Ketchum 

Justice Allen H. Loughry II 

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