Chapman v. Smith’s, 101320 UTWC, 19-0175

Case DateOctober 13, 2020
CourtUtah
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...

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