Court Opinion

ID: 9535286
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 04:47:42.885252+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:33:12.778391
License: Public Domain

CAMERON, Judge
(dissents).
For the purposes of this dissent some pertinent facts should be restated even though they are thoroughly covered by the majority opinion.
After the hearing of 19 and 20 July, 1966, the referee recommended that the Commission “enter an appropriate decision upon hearing accepting the reopening of applicant’s case.” Objections to the referee’s report were filed and the Commission recommended that the matter be submitted to the “medical department for recommendations as to the desirability of an orthopedic examination”. The memorandum from Dr. Edwards of the medical department to Referee Courtney Varner is set forth in the majority opinion. Dr. Lyt-ton-Smith thereafter did review the file as requested and a report adverse to the petitioner was filed. Petitioner requested a hearing on Dr. Lytton-Smith’s report which was held 14 September, 1967 before a new referee who had not participated in the earlier hearings or proceedings.
I would set the award aside for two reasons. First, I do not believe that under the facts in this case Dr. Lytton-Smith’s report and testimony were competent to overrule the previous testimony based on actual physical examination and treatment of petitioner. Secondly, I believe that the denial of petitioner’s request to be heard before the new referee denied her the right to a fair and impartial hearing to which she was entitled.
TESTIMONY BASED UPON REVIEW OF THE FILE
This Court has recently stated:
“We do not find that Dr. Fisher’s testimony having been rendered on facts contained in the claims file makes it any less acceptable than the other medical evidence in this case.” Tipton v. Industrial Commission, 7 Ariz.App. 39, 42, 435 P.2d 874 (1968).
As followed in the instant case, I would disaffirm the language in Tipton, op. cit., and hold that medical testimony based solely on a review of the Commission file is of less weight and cannot overcome medical testimony based upon physical examination of the injured workman. It is one thing to have further medical testimony, further medical examination and further consultations in an effort to ascertain the correctness of diagnosis of the medical experts and to aid the Commission in resolving conflicts in the evidence including medical testimony. The Commission has the right and responsibility of so doing. Waller v. Industrial Commission, 99 Ariz. 15, 406 P.2d 197 (1965); Baxter v. Industrial Commission, 6 Ariz.App. 156, 430 P.2d 735 (1967).
It is quite another thing, however, to use the procedure followed in the instant case as a device for merely creating sufficient conflict in the evidence upon which the Commission can deny petitioner’s industrial claim. In fairness, I must admit that this may not have been the intent in the instant case and the file before this Court is certainly silent in this regard, still the procedure used by the Commission could certainly give rise to a reasonable suspicion that this is what was happening. I would set the award aside for this reason.
REFUSAL TO ALLOW PETITIONER TO TESTIFY
As the record discloses, the petitioner at the second hearing requested that she be allowed to testify which request was denied by the new referee. The offer of proof *537made at that time is set out fully in the majority opinion. The petitioner has not specifically raised this issue on appeal. I feel, however, that it is necessary to discuss this since it goes to the heart of petitioner’s right to a fair and impartial hearing.
It should he remembered that the petitioner has the burden of proof to show that she is entitled to compensation. Lopez v. Kennecott Copper Corp., 71 Ariz. 212, 225 P.2d 702 (1950). This standard is not relaxed when the proceeding is to reopen. See Lowry v. Industrial Commission, 92 Ariz. 222, 375 P.2d 572 (1962). I fully realize that petitioner was allowed to present her case initially, but when the matter was continued for further action .and then the matter set for hearing on the report of Dr. Lytton-Smith, petitioner ■should have been allowed to present further testimony, including her own, which •would have attempted to fulfill this burden.
In Powell v. Industrial Commission, 102 Ariz. 11, 423 P.2d 348 (1967), our Supreme Court pointed out that The Industrial Commission is not bound by the findings of the referee which “shall be advisory only”, A.R.S. § 23-928, but “ 'the duty to make the determination was that of the Industrial Commission itself and the fact that they disagreed with their referee is of no legal consequence’.” I do not read this •statement to mean that the right to appear before the referee is not a very substantial Tight. Davis, Administrative Law Treatise, Section 11.18, page 112, in discussing the problem of substitution of officers, states:
“The relation between examiner and agency is thus quite different from the relation between trial judge and appellate court. The controlling judgment, even with respect to findings based upon demeanor, is that of agency. The examiner’s role is only little more than that of .an advisor; it is more only in that the initial or recommended decision is usually served upon the parties, and in that •the initial decision may become final in absence of appeal by either party and in absence of review by the agency of its own motion.
“The system is thus fundamentally one in which the decision is made, even when demeanor of witnesses is vital, by officers who have neither seen nor heard the witnesses, and the decision is not made by the officer who has seen and heard the witnesses.
“This observation leads to the principle which should govern substitution of hearing officers. The principle is that when demeanor of witnesses is a substantial element, deciding without taking that factor into account is undesirable and may be unfair, but when demeanor of witnesses is unimportant, no unfairness results from substituting one hearing officer for another at any stage of the proceeding, and no unfairness results if the agency makes a decision on the record without a report from the hearing officer. The key consideration is to prevent the demeanor of witnesses, whenever it may be a substantial element, from getting lost from the case.”
Under the facts in this case it is my impression that the demeanor of the petitioner was very important if not critical in the decision of this case of conflicting medical evidence. The first referee had all the witnesses before him, was able to personally judge their demeanor and on this basis recommended that the petition to reopen be granted. The second referee had only one witness, a doctor who had never examined the petitioner. The new referee then recommended that the petition be denied. His decision was founded on the testimony of respondent’s doctor and the cold record. It may well be as the majority opinion suggests that had petitioner testified at the second hearing the result would not have been changed. That, however, is not the question. The question is, should she have been allowed to testify? I believe she should have been so allowed. I can perceive no error on the part of the new referee in allowing petitioner to testify and no prejudice to him in observing the demeanor of the petitioner under oath while *538so testifying. 1 do believe it was error to refuse the request.
I would set aside the award of the Commission.