KATHY LEIGH, Petitioner,
v.
IRON COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT and UTAH SCHOOL BOARDS RISK MANAGEMENT, Respondents.
No. 17-0535
Utah Workers Compensation Decisions
Utah Labor Commission
November 16, 2020
ORDER
AFFIRMING ALJ’S DECISION
Jaceson R. Maughan, Utah Labor Commissioner.
Iron
County School District and Utah School Boards Risk Management
(collectively referred to as “Iron County”) and
Kathy Leigh ask the Utah Labor Commission to review
Administrative Law Judge Trayner’s award of benefits,
including permanent total disability compensation, to Ms.
Leigh under the Utah Workers’ Compensation Act, Title
34A, Chapter 2, Utah Code Annotated.
The
Labor Commission exercises jurisdiction over this motion for
review pursuant to §63G-4-301 of the Utah Administrative
Procedures Act and §34A-2-801(4) of the Utah
Workers’ Compensation Act.
BACKGROUND
AND ISSUES PRESENTED
Ms.
Leigh claims workers’ compensation benefits for
injuries to her cervical spine and right shoulder that she
sustained while working for Iron County on October 5, 2012.
Judge Luke initially presided over proceedings on the claim,
but retired from the Commission while the matter was still
ongoing. The matter was reassigned to Judge Trayner, who
referred the medical aspects of Ms. Leigh’s claim to an
impartial medical panel.
The
medical panel determined that the work accident worsened Ms.
Leigh’s pre-existing right-shoulder, cervical-spine,
and lumbar-spine problems. The panel outlined Ms.
Leigh’s functional limitations along with the medical
care necessary to treat her work injuries. The panel also
assessed Ms. Leigh with a permanent impairment rating. Judge
Trayner relied on the medical panel’s conclusions over
Iron County’s objection and entered a preliminary award
of permanent total disability compensation to Ms. Leigh as
well as permanent partial disability compensation and medical
benefits. Both parties filed motions for review of Judge
Trayner’s decision.
Iron
County disputes Judge Trayner’s finding that Ms. Leigh
meets all the criteria for a preliminary award of permanent
total disability compensation because it is not supported by
substantial evidence. Iron County argues that it was error to
rely on the medical panel’s conclusions over other
medical evidence because the panel did not consider certain
medical opinions or functional capacity evaluation results.
Iron County also submits that the Commission should remand
the matter because the medical panel did not differentiate
between Ms. Leigh’s functional limitations due to her
work injuries and those due to her pre-existing conditions.
Iron County adds that Judge Trayner erred in awarding
permanent partial disability compensation to Ms. Leigh
because it is based on a flawed opinion from the panel that
did not consider her pre-existing limitations.
Ms.
Leigh also seeks review of Judge Trayner’s preliminary
award of permanent total disability compensation. Ms. Leigh
contends that the preliminary award of benefits should begin
as of the date of the work accident rather than the date she
reached medical stability from the last of her work-related
surgeries. Alternatively, Ms. Leigh submits that if her
preliminary award of permanent total disability compensation
is not determined to be the date of the work accident, then
she should be allowed to amend her claim to include temporary
total disability compensation from the date of injury to the
date of medical stability after her surgeries.
FINDINGS
OF FACT
The
Commission adopts and summarizes Judge Trayner’s
findings of fact and finds additional facts from the medical
record to be material to the parties’ motions for
review. Ms. Leigh was born in 1950 and she has an
eleventh-grade education. She studied post high-school math
and underwent some training to work with learning-disabled
students.
Previous
Work
Ms.
Leigh worked about four or five years assisting up to three
learning-disabled students at a time with math assignments.
Ms. Leigh worked briefly at a bakery in her 20s and also
worked on assembly lines. She worked for two plumbing
companies assisting customers at the front counter and
filling orders and overseeing the garden shop at a retail
store. Her duties at the plumbing companies required her to
operate a forklift, lift up to 20 pounds, and reach overhead.
Her duties at the retail store also required operating a
forklift and lifting up to 20 pounds along with climbing
ladders, watering plants, using a cash register, supervising
employees, processing receipts and returns, and managing
deposits and inventory.
Pre-existing
Conditions
Ms.
Leigh was assessed with left-sided sciatica and instability
at the L4-5 level of her lumbar spine in 2003. She later
underwent a spinal fusion at the L4-5 level in 2010. In
February 2012, Ms. Leigh was assessed with right-shoulder
impingement and biceps tendonitis. She underwent surgery on
her right shoulder on June 27, 2012, to repair her right
rotator cuff and was released to return to work with
restrictions in August 2012. The restrictions included a
prohibition against overhead work and against lifting more
than 10 pounds.
Work
Accident and Medical Care
Ms.
Leigh worked for Iron County as a custodian. On October 5,
2012, she was cleaning a restroom with liquid soap on the
floor by mopping and hosing it down. Ms. Leigh twisted to
grab the hose and her feet slipped out from under her. She
fell to the ground and landed on her right side and shoulder
between a toilet and a bathroom stall, striking her head on
the toilet. Ms. Leigh went to the office of the school where
she was working and reported the accident. Her supervisor was
contacted by telephone and he asked Ms. Leigh to finish her
shift. She finished her shift, but was unable to complete all
of her duties.
Ms.
Leigh was referred to WorkMed the next Monday after the
accident and she reported injuries to her neck, right
shoulder, and low back. She was released to return to work
with restrictions, but she sought additional treatment from
Dr. Delcore the following week. Dr. Delcore assessed Ms.
Leigh with radiculopathy in her cervical spine and a
right-hip and low-back contusion. Ms. Leigh did not return to
work after October 17, 2012.
Ms.
Leigh underwent MRI scans on her cervical spine and right
shoulder in late October 2012. The results of the scans
revealed multilevel spondylosis and neuroforaminal stenosis
in her cervical spine and a full-thickness supraspinatus
tendon tear in her right shoulder. Dr. Delcore performed
surgery to repair Ms. Leigh’s right rotator-cuff tear
on December 27, 2012. Dr. Delcore opined that Ms. Leigh
suffered a new rotator-cuff tear as a result of the work
accident and that the accident permanently worsened her
pre-existing right-shoulder problems.
Ms.
Leigh...
