Court Opinion

ID: 9630908
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 10:23:54.034871+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:07:45.993465
License: Public Domain

Annabelle Clinton Imber, Justice, dissenting. In reversing the Workers’ Compensation Commission, the majority has chosen to ignore our well-established standard of review in workers’ compensation cases. On appeal, we view the evidence and all reasonable inferences therefrom in the light most favorable to the Commission’s decision and affirm that decision when it is supported by substantial evidence. Arbaugh v. AG Processing, Inc., 360 Ark. 491, 202 S.W.3d 519 (2005). Substantial evidence is evidence that a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion. Id. There may be substantial evidence to support the Commission’s decision even though we might have reached a different conclusion if we had sat as the trier of fact or heard the case de novo. Id. It is exclusively within the province of the Commission to determine the credibility and the weight to be accorded to each witness’s testimony. Id. We will not reverse the Commission’s decision unless we are convinced that fair-minded persons with the same facts before them could not have reached the conclusions arrived at by the Commission. Id. In keeping with this standard of review, we should affirm the Commission’s finding that Kimbell did not sustain a compensable injury because he was not performing employment services at the time of his accident. Stanley Minor’s testimony reveals that he had a work-related conversation with Kimbell who had walked out onto the porch to smoke a cigarette, but that Kimbell fell after their conversation was over. Specifically, when asked where he was at the time of Kimbell’s fall, Minor attested that he was returning to the building from his car when he heard him fall. In fact, the transcript of Minor’s testimony clearly demonstrates why there is substantial evidence to support the Commission’s decision, as shown in the following lengthy colloquy. Direct Examination Counsel: Did you see him outside on the porch at the Ross Center that day? Minor: Yeah. Counsel: Did you talk to him about your benefits? Minor: Yes, I was talking about that ticket-to-work thing. Counsel: Was he trying to answer your questions? Minor: Yeah____ Counsel: Did you see anything happen while you were talking to him? Minor: Well, I talked to him that first time. I was going to go deal with the unemployment office and then after I get through talking with the unemployment office, I went back to the vehicle — I called myself explaining to the unemployment office (inaudible) left it in the glove compartment and then I went back to the vehicle to get it. I’m not talking to him and then put it back in the glove compartment first, and then talked to the unemployment office without it. But then when I went to get it to take it back to the unemployment office, you know — Counsel: Which is in the same building? Minor: The same building.... Counsel: Were you standing on the porch when you saw this happen, talking to Mr. Kimbell? Minor: Well, I say I was coming from the car .... Counsel: . . . You were coming toward Mr. Kimbell, is that correct? Minor: I was through talking to him and I was going to go back and let her see that ticket-to-work thing. And that’s when I heard something .... Counsel: What did you see happen then, Mr. Minor? Minor: I knew he was on the ground like this here (indicating). I heard something too, now. I heard his head hit like that and maybe like it knocked him unconscious or something. It was a hard fall. Counsel: How far away from him were you when he fell? Minor: I was coming back from the car fixin’ to go back straight this way and I seen him — I think maybe I heard something, too. But if I heard somebody I heard something. Then he was laying there with his shoulders against this thing here because — Counsel: Had you just been talking to him about your benefits right before he fell? Minor: Well, I got through discussing about trying to get with the (inaudible) program because they said you could either go through the unemployment network Counsel: Were you on the porch with him when he fell? Minor: No, because I’m trying to figure out — Counsel: Immediately prior to his fall you were approaching him and talking to him about your benefits, is that correct? Minor: We were talking about that before. Counsel: What did you do after you saw him on the ground? Minor: I put my arm under his armpits like that and I pulled him up— I said, “Hold on, let me get this chair.” Cross Examination Counsel: Now you visited with Mr. Kimbell. Where was he when you were visiting with him? Minor: Standing right there. Counsel: Was he leaning up against the wall? Minor: Yeah,Yeah. Counsel: You came up to him and visited with him for about how long? Minor: I was talking about that ticket-to-work thing and people on disability — Let’s see I talked to the unemployment office and he said I could — Counsel: About how long? A minute? Minor: I guess about five minutes, three or four minutes. Counsel: Three or four minutes. And then you left here and then you went where, to the unemployment office? Minor: Yeah. I went on around there, yeah. Counsel: And you went around to the unemployment office and then you — Minor: And then put the thing in my car — Counsel: And then you came out to your car — Minor: I put that ticket-to-work thing — Counsel: Okay. How far do you think you were from the door when you were at your car, approximately? Minor: It’s probably about like 25 yards, a football field or something. Counsel: Twenty-five yards? Minor: of a football field. Counsel: And that’s when you looked up and saw that he had fallen? Minor: Yeah, when I got near this pole here .... I’m thinking when I got up in here, when I got past this pole right here. Counsel: So he had fallen sometime between when you were out in the parking lot and when you were walking up to this pole, correct? Minor: We had done talked previously and then I — Counsel: I understand. But he fell while you were walking up and this pole was in the way, wasn’t it? Minor: Well, when I come back from my car to go back to the unemployment to let him see that ticket-to-work, let them see that a little bit — When I come through here that’s when I seen him, when I come — Counsel: You saw him on the ground? Minor: Right. Counsel: But you did not see him fall? You did not see him actually fall to the ground? Minor: I’m not sure. But I’m going to tell you now, I heard something — I heard the weight of his body hit the ground. Counsel: How far away from him do you think you were when he fell? Minor: Well, I heard him —After I heard him I probably come through there and seen him and heard him — Those two poles fixing to go around this corner here. Counsel: So the poles, you were at least, what 15,10 or 15 yards away? Minor: Maybe that. Counsel: And you say you heard him? Minor: Yeah. Counsel: And you were not facing him and getting in his face when he fell, is that correct? Minor: Oh, no, sir. Counsel: So if Mr. Kimbell, in his deposition, had told me that — Let me get to them. He stepped back off of the slab because you were coming towards him, that did not happen, did it? Minor: No. Counsel: He would be mistaken about that? Minor: Yeah. Counsel: In fact you weren’t even really there, you were coming up that way when it happened, right? Minor: I was finished with the conversation. Redirect Examination Counsel: Mr. Minor, you just stated that when you heard him fall or saw him fall, you were approximately between these two posts right here, these two columns, is that correct? Minor: I seen him on the ground, yes. Counsel: And you were headed in his direction, were you not? Minor: I was done finished with the conversation. I was going to get the — I just got through with the conversation with the unemployment office then, then I was going to get the papers out and let them see the papers. Counsel: So you were going to go right to where he was? You were headed in his direction when he fell, is that correct? Minor: Yes. You come through those two poles and you go down the sidewalk to enter the building, but on this side of the grass is the highway. You put your car on the road and go out to the highway. Counsel: But you were headed in his direction? You were walking toward him when he fell, is that correct? Minor: Yeah, I was walking toward that way — From where he be standing at then I make a right turn — Counsel: You were walking toward him and you were somewhere between these two poles when he fell? Minor: Yes, sir. Counsel: Which is on the porch? Minor: Yes, I was out on the porch. Recross Examination Counsel: I’m going to read you something out of his deposition. He is talking about you here, Mr. Minor. “I looked at the piece of paper. I tried to explain it to him. He seemed to be getting, you know, madder. So he stepped back and then I stepped back. I kept trying to keep my back away from the building. I wanted an escape route because this man was highly agitated by now. He kept talking. Question: How many steps did you take back? Answer: Oh, I don’t know, but anyway he came up to me flapping these things in my face about three times. The third time was when I fell off the porch.” That did not happen, did it? Minor: No. Counsel: You’re sure about that? Minor: Yeah. While Kimbell and Minor gave different versions of the circumstances surrounding Kimbell’s fall, questions concerning the credibility of witnesses and the weight to be given to their testimony are within the exclusive province of the Commission. Patterson v. Arkansas Dep’t of Health, 343 Ark. 255, 33 S.W.3d 151 (2000). When there are contradictions in the evidence, it is within the Commission’s province to reconcile conflicting evidence and to determine the true facts. Id. The Commission is not required to believe the testimony of the claimant or any other witness, but may accept and translate into findings of fact only those portions of the testimony that it deems worthy of belief. Id. Thus, we are foreclosed from determining the credibility and weight to be accorded to each witness’s testimony. Arbaugh v. AG Processing, Inc., supra. Not only was the Commission entitled to give greater weight to Minor’s testimony than it did to Kimbell’s testimony, or that of his witnesses, but the emergency room physician’s examination notes indicate that Kimbell reported having become “quite dizzy” before he fell. Furthermore, the testimony also showed that shortly after his fall, Kimbell mentioned having spoken to a man on the porch but he did not say that the man caused the accident. Because there is substantial evidence to support the Commission’s decision in this case, I would affirm. For the above-stated reasons, I respectfully dissent. Dickey, J., joins this dissent.