4-207-699 (1998). JOYCE L. BENWELL.

• Case Date: July 02, 1998
• Court: Colorado

Colorado Workers Compensation 1998. 4-207-699 (1998). JOYCE L. BENWELL INDUSTRIAL CLAIM APPEALS OFFICEIN THE MATTER OF THE CLAIM OF JOYCE L. BENWELL, Claimant, v. MICHAEL GARMAN PRODUCTIONS, INC., Employer, and COLORADO COMPENSATION INSURANCE AUTHORITY, Insurer, Respondents.W. C. No. 4-207-699FINAL ORDER The respondents seek review of a final order of Administrative Law Judge Wheelock (ALJ), insofar as the ALJ failed to apportion permanent total disability benefits based on the claimant's preexisting psychological condition. We affirm. The ALJ found, and it is now undisputed, that the claimant is permanently and totally disabled due to bilateral upper extremity injuries sustained in February 1994. As a result of these injuries the claimant suffers severe physical restrictions which preclude her from using her upper extremities in most activities. The claimant has a psychiatric history which predates the industrial injuries. The history includes childhood abuse, substance abuse, and a one week hospitalization in 1991. At the time of 1991 hospitalization the claimant suffered from depression connected with a divorce and foreclosure on her home. Several physicians opined that the 1994 industrial injury aggravated the claimant's preexisting psychiatric condition and caused additional depression. Generally, these physicians agreed that the claimant had an overall psychological impairment of ten percent of the whole person, and that seven percent of the impairment predated the industrial injury. (Eg., Dr. Pero, report of August 22, 1996; Dr. Gamblin, report of March 18, 1996). Based on the medical evidence, as well as evidence the claimant held numerous jobs prior to the industrial injury, the respondents' vocational expert opined that thirty percent of the claimant's permanent total disability is attributable to the preexisting psychiatric condition. According to this expert, the claimant's pre-injury psychiatric condition rendered her unsuitable for most jobs requiring public contact, or approximately thirty percent of the available jobs. Conversely, the claimant's vocational expert opined the preexisting psychological conditions did not cause the claimant any vocational disability. This expert based his opinion on the fact that the claimant was always able to find work in the competitive labor market prior to the 1994...