BRENDA MEADE Claimant
v.
STATE FARM MUTUAL AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE COMPANY, Employer,
and
INDEMNITY INSURANCE COMPAY OF NORTH AMERICA, Insurance Carrier, Defendants.
No. 5059127
Iowa Workers Compensation
Before the Iowa Workers' Compensation Commissioner
February 7, 2021
Head
Notes: 1402.40; 1803; 1808; 2401; 2402; 2907; 5-9998
DECISION
JOSEPH
S. CORTESE II WORKERS' COMPENSATION COMMISSIONER
Defendants
State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, employer, and
its insurer, Indemnity Insurance Company of North America,
appeal from an arbitration decision filed on November 20,
2019. Claimant Brenda Meade responds to the appeal. The case
was heard on August 14, 2018, and it was considered fully
submitted in front of the deputy workers' compensation
commissioner on September 21, 2018.
The
deputy commissioner found claimant sustained a cumulative
injury to her bilateral upper extremities that arose out of
and in the course of her employment with defendant-employer.
The deputy commissioner found the proper manifestation date
for claimant's injuries was April 11, 2017. As a result,
the deputy commissioner found claimant provided timely notice
of the injury and timely filed her claim. The deputy
commissioner found claimant sustained combined functional
disability of nine percent of the body as a whole pursuant to
Iowa Code section 85.34(2)(s). The deputy commissioner
ordered defendants to pay claimant's costs of the
arbitration proceeding.
On
appeal, defendants assert the deputy commissioner erred in
finding claimant's condition was caused by her work
activities. Defendants alternatively assert the deputy
commissioner erred in finding claimant provided timely notice
of the injury and in finding claimant timely filed her claim.
Claimant
asserts on appeal that the arbitration decision should be
affirmed in its entirety.
I have
performed a de novo review of the evidentiary record and the
detailed arguments of the parties, and I reach the same
analysis, findings, and conclusions as those reached by the
deputy commissioner.
Pursuant
to...
