Opinion ID: 2581635
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: The Merits of Torres' Claim

Text: [¶ 21] Because we affirm on the basis that Torres' reports were not timely, it is unnecessary for us to dispositively address the merits of Torres' injury claim. However, it is appropriate for us to comment on the hearing examiner's findings in a very limited way. The hearing examiner found that Dr. Pullos' testimony was equivocal. A fair reading of the record reveals that his testimony was not equivocal, though its certainty may have been clouded by Torres' failure to communicate her medical condition with precise clarity. Of course, it is apparent that her consultation with Dr. Pullos was not for the purpose of establishing a claim for worker's compensation benefits, but for treatment of her medical condition. Dr. Pullos' testimony was, in sum, that her work effort clearly did cause her incisional hernia to be aggravated. Dr. Pullos also made clear that his opinion in that regard was as certain as medical science could be in a circumstance such as this. Moreover, there was no testimony to contradict Torres' testimony that her hernia did occur at work, or at least that it was aggravated by her work effort over a period of days or weeks. See, e.g., In re Armijo, ¶ 8. [¶ 22] The purpose of the Wyoming Worker's Compensation Act bears repeating here: § 27-14-101. Short title; statement of intent. (a) This act may be cited as the Wyoming Worker's Compensation Act. (b) It is the intent of the legislature in creating the Wyoming worker's compensation division that the laws administered by it to provide a worker's benefit system be interpreted to assure the quick and efficient delivery of indemnity and medical benefits to injured and disabled workers at a reasonable cost to the employers who are subject to the Worker's Compensation Act. It is the specific intent of the legislature that benefit claims cases be decided on their merits and that the common law rule of liberal construction based on the supposed remedial basis of workers' benefits legislation shall not apply in these cases. The worker's benefit system in Wyoming is based on a mutual renunciation of common law rights and defenses by employers and employees alike. Accordingly, the legislature declares that the Worker's Compensation Act is not remedial in any sense and is not to be given a broad liberal construction in favor of any party. Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 27-14-101 (LexisNexis 2003). The worker's compensation statutes are founded in the language of Wyo. Const. art. 10, § 4. [3] This constitutional provision has sometimes been referred to as the constitutional quid pro quo. See generally Mills v. Reynolds, 807 P.2d 383 (Wyo.1991). As the statutory limits on a worker's benefits increase, and as the procedural hurdles for workers become more burdensome, the balance required to sustain the quid pro quo comes into question. See In re Claim of Summers, 987 P.2d 153, 157 (Wyo.1999); Mauch v. Stanley Structures, Inc., 641 P.2d 1247, 1248 (Chief Justice Rose specially concurring) (Wyo.1982); and Markle v. Williamson, 518 P.2d 621, 625 (Wyo.1974). [¶ 23] We perceive that the hearing examiner was correct in its resolution of the merits of Torres' claim in that Torres did not present evidence that satisfied the onerous requirements of the governing statute. That is, her own testimony was quite uncertain as to whether the hernia was of recent origin and as to whether it existed prior to the time of the accidental strain that caused her to seek medical attention. As set out more fully above, it is apparent from her own testimony that Torres experienced difficulty from the time she returned to work after her abdominal surgery, until the time that she finally sought additional medical care. Torres' burden at hearing was a heavy one, but it was not necessarily insurmountable. [4]