DAVID CRABTREE, Claimant
v.
TRI-CITY ELECTRIC COMPANY, Employer,
and
OLD REPUBLIC INSURANCE COMPANY, Insurance Carrier, Defendants.
No. 5059572
Iowa Workers Compensation
Before the Iowa Workers' Compensation Commissioner
March 20, 2020
Head
Notes: 1402.40, 1802, 1803, 2501,2701,2907
APPEAL DECISION
JOSEPH
S. CORTESE II WORKERS' COMPENSATION COMMISSIONER
Defendants
Tri-City Electric Company, employer, and Old Republic
Insurance Company, insurer, appeal from an arbitration
decision filed on January 18, 2019. Claimant David Crabtree
cross-appeals. The case was heard on September 11, 2018, and
it was considered fully submitted in front of the deputy
workers' compensation commissioner on October 29, 2018.
In the
arbitration decision, the deputy commissioner found claimant
sustained permanent physical and mental injuries that arose
out of and in the course of his employment with
defendant-employer on December 23, 2015. The deputy
commissioner found claimant did not satisfy his burden of
proof to establish he was permanently and totally disabled or
an odd-lot employee. Instead, the deputy commissioner found
claimant sustained 80 percent industrial disability as a
result of the work injury. The deputy commissioner determined
claimant's permanent partial disability (PPD) benefits
should commence on December 24, 2015, when claimant returned
to work the day after the injury. The deputy commissioner
found claimant was entitled to receive healing period
benefits from October 13, 2016, through July 23, 2017, and
again from August 4, 2017, through August 10, 2018. The
deputy commissioner found claimant was entitled to receive
reimbursement for the medical expenses and the medical
mileage itemized in Claimant's Exhibit 15, with the
exception of charges from Elite Fitness. The deputy
commissioner found claimant is entitled to receive future
medical care for all causally-related medical conditions. The
deputy commissioner ordered defendants to pay claimant's
costs of the arbitration proceeding in the amount of $113.54.
On
appeal, defendants argue claimant's ongoing symptoms and
mental conditions are not related to the stipulated December
23, 2015 work injury. Defendants alternatively argue that
claimant did not sustain any industrial disability, but if he
did, he is not an odd-lot employee. Defendants assert
claimant is not entitled to any additional temporary benefits
and that the proper commencement date for any PPD benefits is
May 23, 2016. Lastly, defendants argue claimant has not
established his entitlement to alternate medical care or
reimbursement of medical expenses. Claimant seeks affirmance
of the deputy commissioner's decision but for the extent...