Court Opinion

ID: 9664716
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 00:27:05.655876+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:09.241618
License: Public Domain

Robert J. Gladwin, Judge, Hart, Bird, Glover and Roaf, JJ., agree. Gladwin, Griffen, Vaught and Crabtree, JJ., dissent. dissenting. I respectfully dissent. In reversing the Commission’s opinion, the majority has taken on the role of fact finder. The majority’s brief recitation of the facts is adequate. Our standard of review is clear. In reviewing the decisions of the Commission, this court views the evidence and all reasonable inferences deducible therefrom in the light most favorable to the Commission’s findings and affirms the decision ifit is supported by substantial evidence. Geo Specialty Chem. v. Clingan, 69 Ark. App. 369, 13 S.W.3d 218 (2000). Substantial evidence is such relevant evidence as a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support the conclusion. Air Compressor Equip. v. Sword, 69 Ark. App. 162, 11 S.W.3d 1 (2000). The issue is not whether we might have reached a different result or whether the evidence would have supported a contrary finding; if reasonable minds could reach the Commission’s conclusion, we must affirm its decision. Geo Specialty, supra. It is the Commission’s function to determine witness credibility and the weight to be afforded to any testimony. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Stotts, 74 Ark. App. 428, 58 S.W.3d 853 (2001). The Commission must weigh the medical evidence and, if such evidence is conflicting, its resolution is a question of fact for the Commission. Searcy Indus. Laundry Inc. v. Ferren, 82 Ark. App. 69, 110 S.W.3d 306 (2003). The majority holds that substantial evidence does not support the Commission’s conclusion that appellant had reached maximum medical improvement. In doing so, the majority simply disregarded Dr. Schnapp’s opinion that appellant had reached the end of his healing period on April 24, 2003. No other doctor indicated that appellant had not reached the end of his healing period. It is well settled that the mere persistence of pain does not prevent a finding that the healing period has ended so long as the underlying condition has stabilized. See Georgia-Pacific Corp. v. Dickens, 58 Ark. App. 266, 950 S.W.2d 463 (1997). Dr. Schnapp’s April 24, 2003 report states, “I believe that at the present time, he has reached maximum medical improvement. I would like to have a brief function capacity assessment, and after that, I will come up with a permanent physical impairment for him. I doubt that he will be able to lift 150 pounds lightly like he claims that he has to do at work and I told him so. I will release him to go back to work with limitations next week.” On May 23, 2003, Dr. Schnapp gave appellant a five percent permanent physical impairment rating to the body as a whole. These reports clearly support the Commission’s findings. The majority relies on the report of Dr. Moore to find that appellant had not reached maximum medical improvement. However, Dr. Moore does not state that appellant had not reached maximum medical improvement. In his report, Dr. Moore states, “I think that if Dr. Eubanks is his official physician neurosurgeon that a repeat diskogram as recommended is within his sphere of control. It might very well give some further light on this patient’s problems, although I tried to point out to the patient that when the classic pattern of findings is at variance the success rate for corrective surgery falls precipitously. I do think that an EMG/Nerve Conduction Velocity Study might be of some value as well as [a] myelographic survey with contrasted CT if this has not already been done . . . .” Assuming that Dr. Moore’s statement meant that appellant had not reached maximum medical improvement, and clearly that is questionable, it was within the Commission’s province to give greater weight to Dr. Schnapp’s opinion that appellant’s healing period had indeed ended. The Commission is not required to believe the testimony of any witness, and it may accept and translate into findings of fact only those portions of the testimony that it deems worthy of belief. Holloway v. Ray White Lumber Co., 337 Ark. 524, 990 S.W.2d 526 (1999). Furthermore, the Commission has the authority to accept or reject medical opinions and determine their medical soundness and probative force. See Brotherton v. White River Area Agency on Aging, 93 Ark. App. 432, 220 S.W.3d 219 (2005). Dr. Schnapp’s unequivocal opinion that appellant had reached maximum medical improvement on April 24, 2003, constituted substantial evidence to affirm the Commission’s decision. Griffen, Vaught, Crabtree, JJ., join.