Maverick Transportation v. Buzzard ( 2000 )

John F. STROUD, JR., Judge.

Maverick Transportation appeals a decision of the Workers’ Compensation Commission holding Maverick liable for benefits awarded to its employee David Buzzard as a result of a left-knee injury suffered on February 6, 1998. In 1990 Mr. Buzzard had sustained a noncompensable injury to the same knee; in 1996 J. B. Hunt Trucking Company had accepted another injury to the knee as compensable. Maverick contends on appeal that no substantial evidence supports the Commission’s finding that Mr. Buzzard sustained either a new injury and/or aggravation of his preexisting condition for which appellant is liable; instead, Maverick contends that the injury was a recurrence of long-standing problems with his left knee. We disagree with Maverick and affirm.

An aggravation is a new injury resulting from an independent incident. Farmland Ins. Co. v. DuBois, 54 Ark. App. 141, 923 S.W.2d 883 (1996). A recurrence is not a new injury but merely another period of incapacitation resulting from a previous injury. Atkins Nursing Home v. Gray, 54 Ark. App. 125, 923 S.W.2d 897 (1996). A recurrence exists when the second complication is a natural and probable consequence of a prior injury. Weldon v. Pierce Bros. Constr., 54 Ark. App. 344, 925 S.W.2d 179 (1996). Only where it is found that a second episode has resulted from an independent intervening cause is liability imposed upon the second carrier. Id.

Appellant points to appellee’s testimony and the deposition testimony of Dr. Gary Miller as proof that the incident on February 5,1998, was a recurrence of long-standing problems with appellee’s left knee. Appellant argues that the February 1998 incident is a “second period of medical complication” foEowing the 1996 injury accepted by J. B. Hunt as compensable, that there was no accident or independent intervening cause, and that the 1998 injury was a natural and probable result of the 1996 injury. He concludes that J. B. Hunt therefore remains liable.

The standard of review on appeal is weU-settled. In determining the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain the findings of the Workers’ Compensation Commission, the appeUate court reviews the evidence in the light most favorable to the Commission’s findings and affirms if the findings are supported by substantial evidence. Woodall v. Hunnicutt Constr., 67 Ark. App. 196, 994 S.W.2d 490 (1999). The question is not whether the evidence would have supported findings contrary to the ones made by the Commission; there may be substantial evidence to support the Commission’s decision even though we might have reached a different conclusion if we sat as the trier of fact or heard the case de novo. Id. Substantial evidence is such relevant evidence as a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion. Weldon v. Pierce Bros. Constr., 54 Ark. App. 344, 925 S.W.2d 179 (1996). We wiE not reverse a decision of the Commission unless we are convinced that fair-minded persons with the same facts before them could not have reached the conclusion arrived at by the Commission. Id.

At the hearing before the administrative law judge, appellee testified to the following events and medical treatments for his left knee. The knee was first injured during a neighborhood football game in 1990. At that time he was a salesman for Lowe’s. Dr. Gary Miller performed arthroscopic surgery for a partial tear of the anterior cruciate ligament, which took about seven or eight months to heal. Appellee had no problems with his knee a year later, or for the next five years. He worked about three years at a paper company where he moved bags of paper on skids and he was constantly bending and squatting. On his next job, delivering pizzas, he had no problems climbing stairs or working in the kitchen.

J. B. Hunt hired appellee as a truck driver in July 1996. In November 1996 he “blew out” the same knee in a compensable injury; he twisted his knee when he fell from the truck bed and hit the ground. He returned to Dr. Miller, who again performed arthroscopic surgery for a partial tear of the ACL. When Dr. Miller released him to light duty in February 1997, he began driving a shuttle bus for Hunt. He did not return to Dr. Miller for his two-month follow-up appointment.

In April 1997 appellee was released to work without restrictions by Dr. Szabo of Workwise in Alabama, where appellee was tested on such tasks as climbing a ladder and squatting. Dr. Szabo released appellee to work without restrictions, and he went back to driving flatbeds, doing exacdy what he had done before. He missed no further work because of his knee through December 1997, when he left his employment with Hunt.

Appellee testified that he was having no problems with his knee when he left, but he kept a leg brace in the truck “just in case.” On a written application for employment with Maverick he listed the November 1996 injury with J. B. Hunt as an “injury or accident requiring medical attention,” and he told a telephone interviewer about the 1990 football injury. A doctor examined his knee in a medical evaluation for Maverick; it was her opinion that appellee was able to perform the essential functions of a road driver without any reasonable accommodation. He went to work for Maverick in January 1998 after taking the holidays off.

The incident here at issue occurred at a steel plant in Mid-dletown, Ohio, on February 6, 1998, when appellee was trying to secure a load on his truck. He was in a “squatted down reaching” position, leaning at an awkward angle with all his weight on his left knee. With his left hand he reached for a chain between a seven-foot coil and the side of the bed; he pulled the chain through, hooked it, and tightened the ratchet binder. Then he started to straighten up and heard a pop. He stated that the pain was similar to what he had experienced before, and that it hurt “real bad”; he could not walk on it and could not operate the clutch.

Appellee testified that between February 1997 and February 1998 he continued to have “play” in his left knee and that he was careful how he used it. He kept his brace in the truck to wear on occasions when his knee hurt. Before February 6, 1998, he had no problem performing normal duties; this included squatting and standing up afterwards, which he did with careful positioning.

Appellant relies in part upon the following evidence to support its position that the 1998 injury was a natural and probable result of the 1996 injury thatj. B. Hunt accepted as compensable. There was no fall in 1998; appellee merely stood up. Appellee did not understand the severity of the 1996 injury, he had instability in sitting afterwards, he did not wish to undergo reconstruction surgery afterwards, he had looseness in the knee, and he wore the brace in the truck when his knee hurt. Dr. Miller wrote in 1997 reports that appellee might have to undergo ACL reconstruction, and he testified that the last injury was a continuation of the same spectrum, an unstable knee, which would have recurring flare-ups and damage as the natural history of an anterior cruciate deficient knee. Dr. Miller also testified that the torn cartilage that appellee had was a natural and probable consequence of the preexisting condition, and that the tear often happened just as a matter of time. Appellant contends that the Commission ignored evidence, including the above, in support of its position.

The authority of the Commission to resolve conflicting evidence also extends to medical testimony. Swift-Eckrich, Inc. v. Brock, 63 Ark. App. 118, 975 S.W.2d 857 (1998). The Commission is entitled to review the basis for a doctor’s opinion in deciding the weight and credibility of the opinion and medical evidence. Id. Here, in adopting and affirming the decision of the administrative law judge, the Commission found appellee to be a most credible witness and found the evidentiary testimony of Dr. Miller to be somewhat confusing. It pointed out that appellee gave Dr. Miller no specific history concerning the nature of the 1998 injury; the doctor knew only that appellee “was working and had another injury.” The Commission noted that the doctor had told appellee to return in 1997 if he had problems; that appellee did not return for almost a full year; and that a new diagnosis, torn meniscus cartilage, was a result of the 1998 event. The Commission concluded:

Based upon the claimant’s credible testimony, the claimant’s course of conduct and work history following his return to work in March or April 1997 and continuing thereafter, together with the medical evidence, it is herein concluded that claimant’s physical problems beginning February 6, 1998, are the result of a new injury and/or aggravation of his pre-existing condition which occurred while working for respondent [appellant].

We cannot say that the Commission’s conclusion that the 1998 injury was a new injury and/or aggravation of his preexisting condition was not supported by substantial evidence. Therefore, we affirm the Commission’s decision and its finding that appellant is hable for the knee injury of February 1998.

Affirmed.

Hart, J., agrees. GRIFFEN, J., concurs.