Court Opinion

ID: 9680185
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 07:24:31.465158+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:26.521110
License: Public Domain

David M. Glover, Judge, dissenting. The majority affirms the Commission’s denial of benefits to Russell Weaver. I cannot agree because, in my opinion, Weaver proved that he sustained a compensable injury. A more expansive summary of the facts than the majority offered is necessary. Weaver was the only witness to testify before the ALJ. He said that he worked for appellee as a floor hand. He denied having problems with his hands or neck prior to working for appellee, although he said that he had prior back problems that he disclosed before going to work for appellee. He explained that as a floor hand, he worked twelve hours on, twelve hours off, for eight straight days, and then he was off for four days. He testified that if he was not drilling or making routine connections, he was cleaning, mixing mud, or digging ditches. He explained that on the night of March 3-4, the crew was running short-handed, with only a four-man crew when there was normally a five-man crew. He explained that when the drilling pipe was disconnected, he had to throw slips in, and if the slips got stuck, he had to yank on them. He also explained that he had to look straight up sixty-five feet or so while he was making that connection. Weaver said that his crew had disconnected sixty-three pieces of pipe that day and they were double strands. He also said that “mud” came in 100-pound sacks and had different chemicals mixed in it. Weaver testified that something unusual happened to him on March 3-4, the seventh day of his eight-day rotation — first, while he was tripping pipe, his head began to feel “real heavy” and he took his hard hat off during a break. He said that he thought the heaviness was just from tripping the pipe and from being tired. Weaver resumed work after his break, by helping a co-worker mix mud. He testified that while he was mixing mud, his hands started tingling and felt like they were going to sleep. Weaver indicated that he did not fill out any paperwork after his shift — he explained that when you sign out, there is a box to check if you were injured, but he did not know if he had been injured, so he just left the box blank. Weaver said that he was “wore out,” so he drove home, took a bath, and went to bed. He said that when he woke up, his fingers were swollen, so he called a co-worker and told him that his hands were swollen. According to Weaver, the co-worker asked what the swelling was from, and he said that he thought it was from the chemicals in the mud he mixed. Weaver told his co-worker that he could not come in that day. Weaver went to the emergency room twice, where the doctor took him off work and gave him medication. Weaver also went to a safety meeting at work on Monday morning during his four days off work and gave the human-resources person the note from the emergency room stating that he had been taken off work. Weaver testified that he was then told that he could not be at work under a doctor’s care and that he needed to go home. He said that appellee did not let him fill out any forms and did not tell him what doctor to see. Weaver testified that the ER doctor told him to find out who appellee’s primary care physician was; he checked, but after being given the “runaround,” he was told that he would have to take care of it himself. Weaver said that when he asked if he could return to work if the doctor would allow him to do so, he was told that he had been replaced. Meanwhile, the ER referred Weaver to a neurosurgeon, who would not see him because he did not have any insurance. However, an MRI did indicate that his vertebra were pinching a nerve. Weaver testified that he still had no feeling in his fingers. On cross-examination, Weaver agreed that he initially thought his symptoms were caused by the chemicals in the mud he mixed. He explained that the problem had to be work related because all he did was drive home, take a shower, and go to bed. He admitted that he did not know for sure if he told his co-worker if his problem was work related. Weaver candidly stated that he did not really know how he hurt himself. On these facts, the Commission reversed the ALJ’s grant of benefits, finding that Weaver did not prove that he sustained a compensable injury because he was unable to demonstrate an injury that was capable of being identified. In support of its decision, the Commission cited Edens v. Superior Marble & Glass, 346 Ark. 487, 58 S.W.3d 369 (2001). However, in that case, the employee was unable to pinpoint the specific date of his injury, but said he injured his back while slinging marble. Our supreme court awarded benefits, reversing the Commission. Here, Weaver is unable to pinpoint the specific time of his injury; however, it is apparent that it was work related — on the seventh day of an eight-day shift, he began having problems at work; all he did after work was drive home, take a shower, and go to bed; and when he awoke, his hands were swollen. I find that this evidence shows the occurrence of an injury that is sufficiently identified by the employee to comport to the definition within Arkansas Code Annotated section 11-9-102(4). The majority attempts to distinguish this case, saying that while no one denies that Weaver identified the approximate time and date when he noticed the symptoms, which was during the time he was at work, he did not prove the specific incident itself. However, neither did the appellant in Edens. In this case Weaver’s cervical injury did not manifest itself like breaking a bone or accidentally amputating a body part — it was apparent that Weaver was unsure of what, though something, was happening in his body that made his head heavy and his hands and arms tingle. In any event, Weaver was not the only person who could not categorize his symptoms from the onset as a cervical injury — it took multiple trips to the emergency room for even the medical professionals to determine what was wrong with him. In support of Weaver’s claim, the very first emergency-room visit mentioned that the onset of symptoms occurred at work. This complaint is documented in his first ER visit on March 6, wherein he reported pain radiating into his neck. Under the majority’s analysis, it is simply appellant’s bad luck that he experienced an injury that he could not pinpoint with more certainty instead of breaking a leg or poking out his eye on the job. Furthermore, the Commission stated that it could not causally connect the degenerative changes seen on the April 2005 MRI to an accidental injury. Since the MRI report did not mention any degenerative changes, the Commission factually erred when it attributed the problems seen on the MRI to degenerative changes. The majority mentions that the record indicates that appellant had sustained neck and back injuries in a fall in July 1995, but then admits that the CT scan at that time was normal. Nevertheless, the majority recites that this ten-year-old injury is “of interest,” stating that appellant “could have easily injured himself the day before, weeks before, or during his 1995 fall.” There is no evidence to support this assertion. The majority is simply speculating and grasping at straws to affirm an incorrect denial of benefits by the Commission. In the process, the majority ignores (1) the fact that appellant had worked for seven days straight, twelve hours per day, in a labor-intensive job; (2) the first ER report in which appellant reported neck pain; and (3) the MRI, which establishes his injury. I fail to see how reasonable persons could arrive at this conclusion, especially given the factual errors in the Commission’s reasoning, and I would reverse for an award of benefits. I am authorized to state that Judges Hart, Robbins, and Baker join this dissent.