Rogers v. The Waldinger Corp., 021820 IAWC, 5059762

Case DateFebruary 18, 2020
CourtIowa
JOEL ROGERS, Claimant
v.
THE WALDINGER CORPORATION, Employer,
and,
LIBERTY INSURANCE CORP., Insurance Carrier, Defendants.
No. 5059762
Iowa Workers Compensation
Before the Iowa Workers' Compensation Commissioner
February 18, 2020
         Head Note Nos. 1108.50, 1402.40           ARBITRATION DECISION           ERIN Q. PALS DEPUTY WORKERS’ COMPENSATION COMMISSIONER          STATEMENT OF THE CASE          Joel Rogers, claimant, filed a petition in arbitration seeking workers’ compensation benefits from The Waldinger Corporation, employer and Liberty Insurance Corp., insurance carrier as defendants. Hearing was held on November 5, 2019, in Des Moines, Iowa.          The parties filed a hearing report at the commencement of the arbitration hearing. On the hearing report, the parties entered into various stipulations. All of those stipulations were accepted and are hereby incorporated into this arbitration decision and no factual or legal issues relative to the parties’ stipulations will be raised or discussed in this decision. In their post-hearing brief defendants state that they are not asserting a notice defense. The parties are now bound by their stipulations. Claimant, Joel Rogers was the only witness to testify live at trial. The evidentiary record also includes Joint Exhibits JE1-JE5, Claimant’s Exhibits 1-2, and Defendants’ Exhibits A-M. All exhibits were received without objection. The evidentiary record closed at the conclusion of the arbitration hearing. On December 3, 2019, defendants filed a motion to reopen the hearing record because an October 24, 2018 letter from Dr. Smith was inadvertently left out of the exhibits. Claimant filed a notice of non-resistance. The motion was granted on December 18, 2019. Dr. Smith’s letter was admitted into the record and is marked as Defendants’ Motion to Reopen Hearing Record.          The parties submitted post-hearing briefs on December 6, 2019, at which time the case was fully submitted to the undersigned.          ISSUE          The parties submitted the following issue for resolution:          1. Whether claimant sustained permanent disability as a result of the stipulated December 31, 2014, work injury? If so, the extent of industrial disability claimant sustained.          FINDINGS OF FACT          The undersigned, having considered all of the evidence and testimony in the record, finds: Claimant, Joel Rogers, injured his back when he assisted in lifting a 5’ x 8’ sheet metal damper at a construction site in Altoona, Iowa on December 31, 2014. As soon as Rogers grabbed the damper and picked it up, his back gave out instantly. He had two knots in the middle of his back, approximately 4 or 5 inches below his shoulder blades. Rogers was taken to the onsite paramedic. He was then directed to see doctor Richard S. Bratkiewicz, M.D. (Testimony)          On December 31, 2014, Rogers saw Dr. Bratkiewicz at Methodist Occupational Health and Wellness. He reported that he injured his midback at the Facebook jobsite while lifting a large object weighing over 100 pounds. Rogers felt as though he was not making progress. His pain was mainly in the paraspinous thoracic back, an area that he had never injured. The doctor’s assessment was midback strain injury. Dr. Bratkiewicz recommended physical therapy. He also prescribed Flexeril, an injection, and ibuprofen. Rogers was restricted to lifting no more than 5 pounds and he was to avoid twisting his back. (JE1, pages 1-2)          On January 27, 2015, Rogers went to Iowa Ortho where he saw Todd J. Harbach, M.D. His pain was in his middle back, lower back, and gluteal area. He denied any radiation of pain. Rogers reported that he had back pain off and on his entire life. His most recent injury was December 31, 2014 when he was lifting a damper. His pain was now worse with kneeling, lifting, drilling, or climbing. Physical therapy had not helped much. He admitted to not doing his home exercises. His pain was described as a constant ache with some sharper episodes and tingling that went into his thoracic spine and radiated around his chest wall on occasion. His pain was 90 percent back and 10 percent bilateral lower extremity pain. Dr. Harbach recommended an MRI of the lumbar and thoracic spines. He restricted his activities until after the MRI. (JE2, pp. 3-4)          The lumbar MRI was performed on January 29, 2015. The radiologist’s impression was mild degenerative disc bulging at ¶ 4-5 and L5-S1. There was no frank disc herniation, spinal stenosis or lumbar nerve root impingement. (JE3, pp. 79-80)          Rogers returned to see Dr. Harbach on February 3, 2015 for follow-up on the MRI. He continued to have a tremendous amount of mid and low back pain. He begins his construction job at 6:30 a.m. and by the 9:30 a.m. break he is hurting pretty badly, and by lunchtime he is pretty much finished. The assessment was degenerative disc disease lumbar, lumbar spondylosis, thoracic spondylosis, back pain, and obesity. Dr. Harbach stated, “He has degenerative changes that are chronic...

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