Opinion ID: 2370791
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Board Had Substantial Evidence To Find For Simmons.

Text: Zimmerman's challenge to the Board's factual findings is essentially an effort to reargue the facts. The Board was presented with inconsistent accounts of the events leading up to Simmons' heart attack. The Board also heard the testimony of doctors who had differing opinions of how (if at all) Simmons' preexisting heart problems contributed to his heart attack. It is unnecessary to address all of the contested factual Board determinations. The Board alone determines the weight and credibility of evidence, and its factual determinations will be overturned only where there is no satisfactory proof. Employer's objections to the Board's finding of fact essentially contest the Board's finding that Simmons' evidence was more credible and, thus, deserving of more weight. Only two of Zimmerman's objections are sufficiently colorable to warrant discussion. First, the parties dispute whether the emergency or Simmons' heart attack occurred first. Each side produced testimony corroborating its version of the events. Zimmerman employees are required to prepare daily logs that note important events that occur during the workday. The Employer has possession and control over these logs, yet the logs for the day of Simmons' heart attack were missing, for reasons that Zimmerman could not explain. Because of the unexplained absence of the logs, the Board drew a negative inference against the credibility of Zimmerman's witnesses on the issue of which occurred first the emergency or Simmons' heart attack. In these circumstances, the Board's negative inference was reasonable and we uphold it. Second, Employer claims that Simmons failed to establish proximate cause linking the work accident to his injury. [15] Employer relies heavily upon the fact that Simmons had a pre-existing heart condition. On that issue this Court has held: [P]reexisting disease ... does not disqualify a claim for workers' compensation if the employment aggravated ... or in combination with the infirmity produced the disability ... [for] [t]he employer takes the employee as he finds him. [16] Simmons' medical expert, Dr. Davis, testified that Simmons suffered from preexisting coronary artery disease, and that Simmons' exertion in responding to the emergency aggravated his preexisting heart problems and triggered the heart attack. That testimony is sufficient to establish that Simmons' workplace exertion was a substantial factor in causing his injury. Employer next argues that Simmons should not have been awarded all the costs of his treatment and recovery, because his pre-existing illness would eventually have required treatment anyway. Employer claims that it should be liable only for the complications that were substantially related to the work-place injury. Whether or not a complication is substantially related to the work-place injury is an issue of fact. The Board originally declined to relate Simmons' stent placement to his heart attack, finding that such a link was too speculative. The Board later reversed itself and found that the stent procedure was compensable, based on Dr. Davis' testimony that Simmons' medical care (including the placement of a stent) was reasonable, necessary, and related to the work accident. That testimony was sufficient evidence to support the Board's conclusion that Simmons' heart attack and the ensuing complications resulted from his workplace exertion and, thus, were compensable.