Court Opinion

ID: 9754954
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 20:19:32.299816+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:28:01.005578
License: Public Domain

Olly Neal, Judge, dissenting. I respectfully dissent from udge, this case because I believe that appellant’s left shoulder injury was identifiable by time and place of occurrence. Thus, I would reverse and remand for an award of benefits. The issue here is whether reasonable minds could reach the result found by the Commission. See Swaim v. Wal-Mart Assoc., Inc., 91 Ark. App. 120, 208 S.W.3d 837 (2005). In Edens v. Superior Marble & Glass, 346 Ark. 487, 58 S.W.3d 369 (2001), the supreme court held that Ark. Code Ann. § 11-9-102(4)(A)(i) only requires that the claimant prove that the occurrence of the injury is capable of being identified. It does not require that the exact date be identified. Id. Accordingly, the Court held that the claimant’s ability to provide an exact date of her injury was not fatal to the claim, arguably because all of the dates considered were reasonably close in proximity, and thus, reasonably susceptible to identification as to a time and place. In the instant case, the ALJ’s opinion, which was adopted by the Commission, provided in part as follows: [Claimant] contends that she was using a shovel to break up ice in August of2001, when she experienced the immediate onset of pain in her left shouldfer], which she reported to the plant nurse. However, the testimony of Faye Shales [sic], the plant nurse, contradicts the claimant’s testimony. In this regard, Ms. Shales [sic] testified that the claimant reported a gradual onset of left shoulder pain. Workers’ compensation forms completed and signed by the claimant also state that the condition was a gradual onset injuryf.] There is also contrary evidence provided by Schales’s testimony. Schales testified that: I helped Rose Dorris fill out the first report of injury, and I signed it on October 16,2001. The report states gradual onset and August 2001. I wrote the note about gradual onset. And later in the report it states that the accident occurred while the employee was using a shovel to chip ice, to cool the chicken feet down. I wrote that information, based on the information given to me by Rose. Rose told me that the pain started when she was shoveling ice.... If Ms. Dorris says that she came in and said something to me about her shoulder bothering her before October 16, 2001,1 would believe her.... Every employee has a daily log. If an employee comes in with a complaint of an ache or pain that’s not related to a specific incident, I don’t always report it. Just because the log doesn’t reflect an occasion in August of2001 of Ms. Dorris doesn’t mean that she didn’t come in and complain. I knew prior to this litigation that she was complaining of a specific accident; I knew before the form “N” was filled out. When I helped her fill out the “N” form, I wrote in gradual onset. I’m not sure if Rose Dorris even knows what that means. The only thing she told me was that she was using a shovel to chip ice up to cool feet down. We talked about gradual onset, if it was a specific incident or if it was something that just gradually started happening with her shoulder, and she told me it was gradual onset— On form "N,” Rose states that she was using a shovel to chip ice up to cool feet down, and to me, that would indicate a specific incident. (Emphasis added.) In addition to this testimony, there was also testimony from several other persons that would indicate that appellant’s injury was identifiable by time and place of occurrence. Appellant’s supervisor, David Kunkel, testified that appellant came to him and told him that she had hurt her shoulder while shoveling the ice. Also, Dr. J.D. Allen’s deposition testimony indicated that he first saw appellant for a left rotator cuff injury in November 2001. He stated that his notes showed she was there for a recheck, but that he had not seen her for that problem before and that it was only used to indicate that she was not a new patient. Dr. Allen admitted that he was not a good narrator but that he did remember appellant talking about an incident in which she was doing something with a shovel. He acknowledged that appellant filled out the paperwork and noted that she hurt herself while shoveling ice at work. The injury date found on the paperwork was October 16, 2001 — the date that Schales assisted appellant in completing the Form N. I believe that this case turns on whether reasonable minds, given this contrary testimony, could have reached the decision of the Commission. Although the Form N was signed on October 16, 2001, Faye Schales recognized that the form provided that appellant hurt her shoulder while shoveling partially frozen ice. This form further provided that appellee was notified of the accident in “Augest” [sic]. The other form, filled out by Schales, also indicated the date of “8/2001” as the date appellee was notified of the injury and that appellant hurt her left shoulder while she was in the foot room shoveling ice. Both Kunkel and Dr. Allen recalled appellant telling them that she hurt her left shoulder at work while shoveling ice. Furthermore, Dr. Allen’s notes from November 2001 indicated that appellant presented “with a three-month history of left shoulder pain,” placing appellant’s injury in August 2001. For the foregoing reason, reasonable minds could not reach the decision of the Commission; therefore, I respectfully dissent. Baker, J., joins.