BOBBIE LAVINDER
v.
FOOD LION #2174 DELHAIZE AMERICA, LLC, Insurance Carrier
DELHAIZE AMERICA, LLC, Claim Administrator
Jurisdiction Claim No. VA00001555209
Claim Administrator File No. 2018159614
Virginia Workers’ Compensation
Virginia In The Workers’ Compensation Commission
March 23, 2021
Date
of Injury: December 31, 2018
Connor
S. Bleakley, Esquire For the Claimant.
Travis
T. Kline, Esquire For the Defendants.
REVIEW
on the record by Commissioner Marshall, Commissioner Newman,
and Commissioner Rapaport at Richmond, Virginia.
OPINION
NEWMAN
Commissioner
The
defendants request review of the Deputy Commissioner’s
October 29, 2020 Opinion finding the claimant’s left
hip replacement and resulting disability were causally
related to her December 31, 2018 workplace accident. We
AFFIRM.
I.
Material Proceedings
The
claimant suffered a fall on December 31, 2018, sustaining a
left hip injury for which she was awarded medical benefits on
October 7, 2019.[1] Before us are claims seeking a total
left hip replacement and various periods of wage loss
benefits.[2] The defendants disputed the left hip
replacement and associated disability were related to the
accident.
In
awarding the claim, the Deputy Commissioner ruled that Dr.
John F. Sloboda, the claimant’s treating surgeon, who
opined that the claimant’s accident aggravated her
pre-existing left hip arthritis, was entitled to more
evidentiary weight than the contrary opinion of the defense
independent medical examination (“IME”) performed
by Dr. Brian A. Torre. The Deputy Commissioner likewise
rejected the defendants’ argument that the
claimant’s work for a subsequent employer aggravated
her pre-existing condition.
The
defendants request review.
II.
Findings of Fact and Rulings of Law
The
claimant suffered her December 13, 2018 fall while working as
a fry cook for the employer. She was stepping onto a cart to
reach a box of chicken when the cart moved, causing her to
fall and strike her hip on the cart before landing on the
concrete floor. The claimant felt immediate pain in her left
hip. She went to an Urgent Care Center (“Velocity
Care”) for medical treatment at the request of the
employer, was diagnosed with a pulled muscle, and was taken
out of work for a week. Although the injury was reported to
the Commission, the claimant was not offered a panel of
physicians. The claimant continued to feel hip pain which
increased in the months following the accident, eventually
interfering with her daily activities. She attempted to treat
the pain on her own because her employer did not provide
health insurance and she was unaware of her right to medical
treatment.
The
claimant resigned from Food Lion in February of 2019. She
started working as a sander at Frank Chervan, a furniture
maker, in July of 2019, a job that required her to stand
throughout an eight-hour shift. Her symptoms worsened until
she “couldn’t take the pain anymore.” The
claimant’s new employer provided health insurance, and
she returned to Velocity Care on September 16, 2019 where she
was referred to Dr. Michael W. Wolf, who later referred her
to Dr. Sloboda. Dr. Sloboda advised the claimant that she
would need a total hip replacement, a procedure he performed
on January 16, 2020.
During
cross-examination, the claimant stated that between the date
of her accident and September 16, 2019, she sought treatment
at Velocity Care for various ailments such as the flu and a...