Opinion ID: 1160523
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: experts records and opinions

Text: The only testimony regarding the claimant's ability to obtain work in the open labor market and to earn a comparable wage was that of Monty Longacre, a vocational expert, who found the claimant to be 100% restricted in both her ability to earn a comparable wage and her ability to perform work in the open labor market. However, the Board concluded: Mr. Longacre's opinion is based upon the medical reports of Dr. Glen O. Bair, which the Appeals Board has found less than credible, and upon the reports of Dr. John Wertzberger, whose medical records were never placed into evidence. (K.S.A. 44-519) As such, the opinion of Mr. Longacre will not be considered credible as Mr Longacre was not provided the medical records of Dr. Phillips or Dr. Wolfe in reaching his opinion regarding claimant's work disability. The claimant argues that the Board erred in refusing to admit Longacre's testimony, which was based on a medical report by Dr. Wertzberger, who did not testify and whose report was not admitted into evidence. The claimant challenges the Board's application of the following provisions of K.S.A. 44-519: No report of any examination of any employee by a health care provider, as provided for in the workers compensation act and no certificate issued or given by the health care provider making such examination, shall be competent evidence in any proceeding for the determining or collection of compensation unless supported by the testimony of such health care provider, if this testimony is admissible, and shall not be competent evidence in any case where testimony of such health care provider is not admissible. We need not resolve whether the provisions of K.S.A. 44-519 exclude Longacre's report in this case. Once the Board concluded, based upon the medical evidence of record, that the claimant has failed to prove by a preponderance of the credible evidence that she suffered any permanent functional impairment or any ongoing permanent work disability as a result of this incident (emphasis added), the issue of work disability becomes irrelevant. As noted above, the conclusion of the Board that the claimant's disability claims are of a temporary nature is supported by substantial competent evidence. Thus, her future ability to obtain work in the open labor market and to earn a comparable wage in the open labor market are immaterial. The claimant raises two additional constitutional issues. She contends that (1) the legislature in reconstituting the Board usurped the power of the Supreme Court and (2) the 1993 amendment to K.S.A. 1992 Supp. 44-556, which eliminated judicial review by trial de novo in the district court, is unconstitutional. (1) Whether the Legislature In Reconstituting the Board Usurped the Power of the Supreme Court The claimant argues that the Board was without jurisdiction to review the decision of the ALJ because Section 5 of S.B. 59 is unconstitutional as a violation of separation of powers. In order to place this issue in context, a brief summary of recent legislative and judicial history is necessary. In Sedlak v. Dick, 256 Kan. 779, 887 P.2d 1119 (1995), we held that the provisions of K.S.A. 44-555b, providing for the appointment of the Board's members, was a constitutionally impermissible delegation of legislative authority. 256 Kan. at 803. The fatal flaw in the statute was that it gave the AFL-CIO and the Kansas Chamber of Commerce and Industry the absolute power to select Board members. 256 Kan. at 802. Upon declaring the Board unconstitutional, the Sedlak court ordered all claims pending before the Board or on appeal to this court to be transferred to the appropriate district court for further proceedings. 256 Kan. at 805-06. Sedlak was decided January 13, 1995. The legislature quickly passed remedial legislation to cure the constitutional defects in the Board's appointment process. Provisions in this legislation addressed pending cases: New Sec. 5. (a) Any workers compensation appeals which have been transferred from the workers compensation board to a district court or the director of workers compensation pursuant to the Kansas Supreme Court's order in Sedlak v. Dick , case no. 70,792 (January 13, 1995) and have not been decided by the director or the district courts shall be transferred to the workers compensation board established under section 1 from the district court or the director on the effective date of this act. (b) Any workers compensation appeals which have been transferred from the court of appeals to the district courts pursuant to the Kansas Supreme Court's order in Sedlak v. Dick , case no. 70,792 (January 13, 1995) and have not been decided by the district courts shall be transferred to the court of appeals on the effective date of this act. .... Sec. 7. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its publication in the Kansas register. S.B. 59 (L. 1995, ch. 1, §§ 5, 7). S.B. 59 was published in the Kansas Register on January 26, 1995. 14 Kan. Reg. 106 (1995). Section 5 is now K.S.A. 1995 Supp. 44-556a. The claimant initially filed a request for review of the ALJ's decision with the Board on January 14, 1994. The Board issued an order on May 19, 1994. The claimant filed an appeal with the Court of Appeals, No. 71,998, on June 14, 1994. The Kansas Supreme Court decided Sedlak on January 13, 1995, after the claimant's appeal was pending before the Court of Appeals. A few days after Sedlak was decided, the Court of Appeals issued a stay of all appeals from the Board that were pending in the Court of Appeals in order for Sedlak to become final and to allow the legislature to pass remedial legislation. Less than 2 weeks later, on January 26, 1995, S.B. 59 became effective. After that, the Court of Appeals lifted the stay and set the pending cases, including the claimant's case, on dockets without immediately transferring them to a district court. On May 12, 1995, the Court of Appeals issued its decision in the claimant's case, remanding the matter to the new Board created by S.B. 59 for review of the ALJ's decision. Gleason v. Samaritan Home, No. 71,998, unpublished opinion filed May 12, 1995. In that case, the court stated: The status of this case is not precisely covered by the remedial legislation. It is not in a district court at this time, and it would not be sensible to transfer it there only to have it transferred back to this court. The constitutional issue was resolved in Sedlak, and the court found in that case that the Board's rulings were invalid. The Board's ruling in this case is therefore invalid, leaving nothing which can presently be resolved by this court. However, Gleason has prevailed on the constitutional challenges she has asserted and should be afforded some relief as a result. In other words, by the time the Court of Appeals addressed the claimant's earlier appeal and similarly situated cases, the remedial legislation was in place. It made no sense to transfer those cases to a district court as directed in Sedlak, only to have them immediately transferred back again pursuant to S.B. 59. In the claimant's case, the only Board-level decision that had been made at that point had been made by the unconstitutional old Board. Thus, in order for there to be a constitutionally valid decision for the Court of Appeals to review, there needed to be a decision made by the new Board. Accordingly, the Court of Appeals remanded the claimant's case, and others, to the new Board for review of the respective ALJ orders.