STEVEN M. CHAPMAN, Petitioner,
v.
SMITH’S and THE KROGER CO., Respondents.
No. 19-0175
Utah Workers Compensation Decisions
Utah Labor Commission
October 13, 2020
ORDER
AFFIRMING ALJ’S DECISION
Kathleen Bounous, Chair
Steven
M. Chapman asks the Appeals Board of the Utah Labor
Commission to review Administrative Law Judge Jonsson’s
denial of Mr. Chapman’s claim for benefits under the
Utah Occupational Disease Act, Title 34A, Chapter 3, Utah
Code Annotated.
The
Appeals Board exercises jurisdiction over this motion for
review pursuant to §63G-4-301 of the Utah Administrative
Procedures Act, §34A-3-102 of the Utah Occupational
Disease Act, and §34A-2-112 of the Utah Workers’
Compensation Act.
BACKGROUND
AND ISSUES PRESENTED
Mr.
Chapman claims benefits for an occupational disease affecting
his right shoulder and his thumbs that he attributes to
work-related exposure with Smith’s from July 1, 2003,
to October 6, 2018. Judge Jonsson held an evidentiary hearing
and referred the medical aspects of Mr. Chapman’s claim
to an impartial medical panel. The medical panel determined
that Mr. Chapman’s right-shoulder and bilateral thumb
conditions were not medically causally connected to his work
activities during the period in question. Judge Jonsson
relied on the medical panel’s conclusions and denied
Mr. Chapman’s claim based on the lack of a medical
causal connection between his work exposure and his
right-shoulder and thumb conditions. Mr. Chapman now seeks
review of Judge Jonsson’s decision by arguing that the
opinions of his treating physicians regarding the medical
cause of his conditions should be assigned more weight than
the conclusions of the medical panel.
FINDINGS
OF FACT
The
Appeals Board adopts Judge Jonsson’s findings of fact,
which are summarized as follows. Mr. Chapman began working
for Smith’s in or around 2001 and eventually took a
position as a meat cutter. Among his duties were cutting meat
by hand, scooping and leveling ice for a display,
repetitively wrapping cuts of meat for customers, and lifting
and carrying boxes weighing between 40 and 100 pounds before
opening them to lift and stack products.
In
1992, before he began working for Smith’s, Mr. Chapman
suffered a right-shoulder injury while working for another
employer. The injury was diagnosed as a strain, but it never
fully resolved. Despite the lingering effects of such injury,
Mr. Chapman was capable of lifting the 100-pound boxes for
Smith’s when required.
In June...