JOHN F. WOHLWEND, Employee/Appellant,
v.
INDEPENDENT SCH. DIST. #709, SELF-INSURED, adm'd by BERKLEY ADM'RS, Employer,
and
BLUE CROSS/BLUE SHIELD OF MINN., Intervenor.
Minnesota Workers Compensation
Workers' Compensation Court of Appeals
February 19, 1999
HEADNOTES
PRACTICE
& PROCEDURE - REMAND; EVIDENCE - ADMISSION; CREDITS &
OFFSETS - CREDIT FOR OVERPAYMENT. The compensation judge
did not err in declining to allow additional evidence, on
remand, and substantial evidence amply supports the
judge's decision that the employee was not totally
disabled, due to his work-related condition, during any
period in which temporary total benefits were paid, entitling
the employer to a credit under Minn. Stat. § 176.179.
Affirmed.
Determined by Wilson, J., Hefte, J., and Pederson, J.
Compensation Judge: Gregory A. Bonovetz.
OPINION
DEBRA
A. WILSON, Judge
The
employee appeals from the compensation judge's award, on
remand, of a credit for temporary total disability paid by
the self-insured employer following the employee's
work-related automobile accident, arguing that the judge
erred by making such an award without taking additional
evidence and that substantial evidence does not support the
judge's decision. We affirm.
BACKGROUND
On
September 1, 1993, the employee was involved in a
work-related automobile accident while employed as an
assistant principal by Independent School District #709 [the
employer] in Duluth. Shortly after the accident, the
employee drove himself to St. Mary's Hospital, where he
was seen in the emergency room. The physician's
report from St. Mary's indicates that the employee was
complaining of neck pain and that he was given several
prescriptions and an information sheet covering "head
injury/neck whiplash."
The
employee saw his usual family physician, Dr. C. M. Scott, two
days after the accident, reporting having done some
"illogical things" recently, and Dr. Scott
eventually referred him for a neurological consultation,
noting that the employee was "having some memory
lapses." The employee subsequently underwent
extensive neuropsychometric testing and was evaluated by a
number of specialists, several of whom concluded that he had
sustained a traumatic brain injury, with resulting cognitive
impairment, as a result of the September 1, 1993,
collision. Complaints apparently related to the
employee's cognitive impairment include difficulty
understanding people, stuttering, memory deficits,
word-finding problems, and confusion. The employee
received medication and "cognitive retraining" for
his cognitive impairment as well as physical therapy and
other care in treatment of his neck pain and continuing
headaches. He has not worked as a teacher or assistant
principal since early September 1993, when the employer began
paying him temporary total disability benefits. At least
two of his physicians have concluded that the employee is
totally unemployable.
The
matter initially came on for hearing before a compensation
judge on December 17, 1996. The evidence submitted at
that hearing included extensive treatment records and the
deposition testimony of several physicians. In his
decision issued on February 13, 1997, the compensation judge
indicated that the issues presented at the hearing were
whether the employee had sustained a closed head injury in
his September 1, 1993, work-related accident; whether the
employee had been permanently and totally disabled since...
