Dallas Hankins v. Sprouting Farms Corp. ( 2024 )

FILED
August 1, 2024
C. CASEY FORBES, CLERK
SUPREME COURT OF APPEALS
OF WEST VIRGINIA
STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA
SUPREME COURT OF APPEALS
Dallas Hankins,
Claimant Below, Petitioner
v.) No. 22-919 (JCN: 2021013918)
(ICA No. 22-ICA-12)
Sprouting Farms Corp.,
Employer Below, Respondent
MEMORANDUM DECISION
Petitioner Dallas Hankins appeals the November 15, 2022, memorandum decision of the
Intermediate Court of Appeals of West Virginia (“ICA”). See Hankins v. Sprouting Farms Corp.,
No. 22-ICA-12, 2022 WL 17168088 (W. Va. Ct. App. Nov. 15, 2022) (memorandum decision).
Respondent Sprouting Farms Corp. filed a timely response.1 The issue on appeal is whether the
ICA erred in affirming the decision of the West Virginia Workers’ Compensation Office of
Judges,2 which affirmed three orders of the claim administrator, entered on September 1, 2021,
and October 6, 2021, suspending temporary total disability benefits, denying authorization for
lumbar epidural steroid injections, and denying the addition of lumbar radiculopathy as a
compensable condition in the claim.
The claimant asserts that the ICA erred in affirming the Office of Judges’ decision. The
employer maintains that the claimant points to no erroneous procedure, no arbitrary or capricious
conclusions, and no abuse of discretion or jurisdictional error by the tribunals below.
This Court reviews questions of law de novo, while we accord deference to factual findings
unless the findings are clearly wrong. Syl. Pt. 3, Duff v. Kanawha Cnty. Comm’n, No. 23-43, 2024
WL 1715166 (W. Va. Apr. 22, 2024). Upon consideration of the record and briefs, we find no
reversible error and therefore summarily affirm. See W. Va. R. App. P. 21(c).
Affirmed.
1
The petitioner is represented by counsel Reginald D. Henry and Lori J. Withrow, and the
respondent is represented by counsel Jeffrey Brannon.
2
The ICA, not the Workers’ Compensation Board of Review, reviewed the Office of
Judges’ decision in this case because the Office of Judges’ order was entered during the transfer
to the reconstituted Board of Review. See W. Va. Code § 23-5-8a(a) (transferring powers and
duties of Office of Judges to Board of Review).
1
ISSUED: August 1, 2024
CONCURRED IN BY:
Chief Justice Tim Armstead
Justice Elizabeth D. Walker
Justice John A. Hutchison
Justice William R. Wooton
Justice C. Haley Bunn
2