CHADD A. SMITH, Employee/Appellant,
v.
CARVER COUNTY and MN COUNTIES INTERGOVERNMENTAL TRUST SELF-INSURED, Employer-Insurer/Respondents.
No. WC18-6180
Minnesota Workers Compensation
Workers’ Compensation Court of Appeals
January 4, 2019
STATUTES
CONSTRUED – MINN. STAT. § 176.011, SUBD. 15(D);
EVIDENCE – EXPERT MEDICAL OPINION. The compensation
judge erred in relying on an expert medical opinion that did
not comply with the requirements of Minn. Stat. §
176.011, subd. 15(d).
Mary
Beth Boyce, Meuser Law Office, P.A., Eden Prairie, Minnesota,
for the Appellant.
Timothy Jung, Law Lind, Jensen, Sullivan & Peterson,
Minneapolis, Minnesota, for the Respondents.
Determined by: David A. Stofferahn, Judge, Gary M. Hall,
Judge, Sean M. Quinn, Judge
Compensation Judge: Danny P. Kelly
Reversed
in part, vacated in part, and remanded.
OPINION
DAVID
A. STOFFERAHN, Judge
The
employee filed a claim for workers’ compensation
benefits, alleging he had developed post-traumatic stress
disorder (PTSD) as the result of his employment as a deputy
sheriff for Carver County. The compensation judge denied the
claim, concluding that the employee had not established a
compensable claim for PTSD. We reverse in part, vacate in
part, and remand the matter for further consideration in
accord with this decision.
BACKGROUND
Chadd
Smith was born on April 26, 1983. He graduated from high
school and obtained an associate’s degree in law
enforcement. Before going to work for Carver County, the
employee had been employed as a part-time police officer for
the city of Cold Spring for about two years. He was hired as
a deputy sheriff for Carver County in July 2006. As part of
the hiring process, the employee underwent a psychological
evaluation to assess his suitability for the position of
deputy sheriff. The employee was interviewed and took a
number of tests, including the MMPI-2 and the California
Personality Inventory. Following the psychological
evaluation, the employee was recommended for employment as a
deputy sheriff.
As a
deputy sheriff, the employee was primarily assigned to patrol
duties. He responded to various emergency and non-emergency
calls, collected evidence at crime scenes, questioned
witnesses and suspects, and arrested and transported
suspects. Those duties exposed the employee to a number of
traumatic incidents and events.
The
employee claimed to have developed PTSD as a result of 16
traumatic events he encountered as a part of his employment
as a deputy sheriff, occurring between August 2006 and June
2016. These events included a number of fatal motor vehicle
accidents in which the employee was called upon to remove the
deceased victim from the vehicle. The employee was called to
an accident scene where a truck driver had been crushed by a
100,000-pound rock crusher. A young, pregnant woman was
killed when the van she was driving was broadsided by an
intoxicated driver. After a collision and resulting car fire,
it was the employee’s responsibility to remove a victim
from the car after the fire had gone out, and to assist in
the autopsy. He responded to a number of motor vehicle
accidents in which a victim had been ejected from the
vehicle. In one of those incidents, he recalled having to
step over a dying young woman so he could check on other
possible victims.
The
employee also responded to suicides, including two instances
involving self-inflicted gunshot wounds to the head. In
another instance, the employee responded to a scene involving
a man who had jumped head-first from a third-story window to
a stone patio. The employee was also called to a scene where
a two-year-old child had choked on a marshmallow and attempts
to revive the child were unsuccessful. In responding to a
house fire call, the employee was required to remove the body
of the occupant after having been unable to gain entry to the
house for several hours. On the last shift he worked for the
county, the employee responded to a report of an odor. The
employee investigated and discovered the decomposing body of
a man who had died in his backyard where he had remained for
several days.
Some of
the incidents involved people the employee knew personally.
Two victims in fatal auto accidents and one suicide victim
had been high school classmates of his. The employee had also
responded to a non-fatal motor vehicle accident in which
another Carver County deputy was seriously injured. This
person had been one of the employee’s training
officers. Other incidents involved some connection to the
employee’s personal life. The...
