The Waldinger Corporation, Emcasco Insurance Company, and Second Injury Fund of Iowa v. Michael B. Mettler

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF IOWA
No. 10–0502
Filed July 6, 2012
THE WALDINGER CORPORATION,
EMCASCO INSURANCE COMPANY, and
SECOND INJURY FUND OF IOWA,
Appellants,
vs.
MICHAEL B. METTLER,
Appellee.
On review from the Iowa Court of Appeals.
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Artis I. Reis,
Judge.
Workers’ compensation claimant seeks further review of court of
appeals decision reversing workers’ compensation commissioner’s award
of healing period benefits. COURT OF APPEALS DECISION AFFIRMED
IN PART AND VACATED IN PART; DISTRICT COURT JUDGMENT
AFFIRMED IN PART AND REVERSED IN PART; AND CASE
REMANDED.
D. Brian Scieszinski of Bradshaw, Fowler, Proctor & Fairgrave,
P.C., Des Moines, for appellants Waldinger Corporation and Emcasco
Insurance Company.
Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, and Deborah M. Stein,
Assistant Attorney General, for appellant Second Injury Fund.
Harry W. Dahl, Des Moines, for appellee.
2
HECHT, Justice.
On further review, we are asked to determine whether Iowa’s
workers’ compensation statute allows a claimant to recover healing
period benefits—after he has reached maximum medical improvement
and returned to substantially similar work following a work-related
injury—for a period of approximately thirteen weeks of postsurgical
convalescence during which he was unable to work. The workers’
compensation commissioner awarded such benefits in this case, but the
court of appeals reversed the award on the ground that Iowa Code
section 85.34(1) (2011) does not authorize the benefits under the
circumstances of this case. 1 We conclude the statute does authorize an
award of healing period benefits in this case. Accordingly, we vacate that
portion of the decision of the court of appeals, affirm the district court’s
judgment affirming the award, and remand for further proceedings
consistent with this opinion.
I. Background Facts and Proceedings.
Upon graduation from high school in 1969, Michael Mettler began
working as a plumber. After five years, he became a journeyman
plumber in 1974. He joined the Army reserves and was called to active
duty in the early 1980s. While in the military service, he fell from a
stepladder and landed on his elbows, breaking both upper extremities
and requiring surgery. He also injured his right ankle during his service.
Mettler remained on active military duty until 2001 when he received an
honorable discharge.
1The commissioner’s award occurred in 2009. However, because there have
been no substantive changes in chapter 85 material to our decision, we will refer to the
2011 Code unless otherwise indicated.
3
Mettler returned to work as a union plumber for the Waldinger
Corporation. Soon after, he reported pain in his right ankle which he
attributed to walking on uneven construction sites and climbing ladders
and scaffolding. Mettler and Waldinger stipulated that Mettler sustained
a work-related injury to his right lower extremity on August 9, 2001. In
January 2002, Dr. Lee diagnosed posterior talar dome lesions and
discussed with Mettler options including restricting activities,
transferring to a desk job, or having surgery. Mettler opted for surgery.
On February 6, 2002, Dr. Lee performed surgery which included
medial malleolar osteotomy, ankle arthrotomy with excision of multiple
loose bodies, repair of an OCD lesion, and an osteochondral graft.
Dr. Lee’s postsurgical diagnosis included talar dome lesions, arthritis,
and ankle synovitis. Mettler received some relief from the surgery and,
after a period of convalescence, returned to work at Waldinger on
May 10, 2002.
In July 2002, Mettler saw Dr. Lee again and again reported right
ankle discomfort. Dr. Lee recommended a second ankle surgery. On
September 25, 2002, Dr. Lee performed arthroscopic surgery with
extensive debridement of degenerative changes and synovitic tissue in
Mettler’s right ankle. Dr. Lee noted significant degenerative changes
during the arthroscopic procedure and predicted Mettler’s right ankle
would likely get progressively worse over time. Dr. Lee released Mettler
to return to work on October 11, 2002, and informed him that he had
reached maximum medical improvement (MMI) on November 15, 2002.
Dr. Lee rated Mettler’s right lower extremity permanent impairment at
five percent in a letter to Waldinger’s workers’ compensation insurer on
December 24, 2002.
4
Mettler “turned” his ankle in February 2003 and returned to
Dr. Lee. Mettler reported on this occasion that he still had significant
pain and discomfort in his ankle. In October of 2003, Dr. Lee suggested
a series of injections which were administered in early 2004. Mettler
received little if any relief from the injections, and Dr. Lee recommended
Mettler limit his physical activity on his right ankle as much as possible
and informed Mettler that work in a seated position was most
appropriate for him.
On July 1, 2004, Dr. Lee performed a second right ankle
arthroscopy with extensive debridement. Mettler responded well to this
surgery and, after a healing period, returned to work for Waldinger. After
seeing Mettler on April 6, 2005, Dr. Lee wrote to Waldinger expressing
his opinion that he expected Mettler to experience ankle problems in the
future and have worsening degenerative changes that might require
ankle fusion or replacement. Dr. Lee’s letter reported that Mettler was
again at maximum medical improvement and rated his permanent
impairment at seven percent of the right lower extremity.
Mettler again consulted Dr. Lee on June 30, 2005, with right ankle
complaints, and in September 2005, Dr. Lee opined an ankle fusion or
replacement were among the possible treatment options. Mettler sought
an independent medical examination with Dr. Kuhnlein. Dr. Kuhnlein
diagnosed osteoarthritis with chronic pain and an unstable ankle joint,
concluded Mettler had reached MMI, and agreed with Dr. Lee’s prediction
that Mettler would need right ankle arthrodesis in the future.
Dr. Kuhnlein rated Mettler’s impairment at thirteen percent to the right
lower extremity.
Mettler’s employment with Waldinger ended in 2006, but he
continued working as a plumber for other employers. In October of
5
2006, Mettler filed an original notice and petition with the Iowa Workers’
Compensation Commissioner alleging a claim against Waldinger and
asserting entitlement to benefits from the Second Injury Fund. 2
In July 2007, Mettler again saw Dr. Lee for ankle pain. Although
Mettler inquired about an ankle replacement procedure, Dr. Lee
recommended another ankle arthroscopy. On September 18, 2007,
Dr. Lee performed a third ankle arthroscopy with extensive debridement
of Mettler’s right ankle. He released Mettler to return to work without
restrictions on December 7, 2007. In a letter written in April 2008,
Dr. Lee opined that Mettler’s right ankle condition was a result of the
August 9, 2001 work-related injury, rated Mettler’s impairment at fifteen
percent of the right lower extremity, and recommended Mettler be
restricted to sedentary work.
Following a hearing and an intra-agency appeal, the commissioner
found Mettler reached MMI on April 6, 2005, and awarded permanent
partial disability benefits for a scheduled loss of fifteen percent of the
right lower extremity with interest as provided in Iowa Code section
85.30. The commissioner further ordered Waldinger to pay healing
period benefits for the period from the date of the third arthroscopic
surgery, September 18, 2007, until Mettler returned to work as a
plumber on December 7, 2007. The commissioner also found Mettler
had sustained an industrial disability of fifteen percent for which the
Second Injury Fund owed benefits under Iowa Code section 85.64.
2Mettler’s claim against the Second Injury Fund under Iowa Code section 85.64
alleged prior injuries to his left knee, left elbow, and right knee as qualifying prior
losses. Waldinger’s answer alleged that Mettler’s lower extremity disability, if any,
should be apportioned so that only disability attributable to the work-related injury
would be allocated to Waldinger.
6
Waldinger filed a petition for judicial review contending the
commissioner erred in awarding healing period benefits following the
September 2007 surgery, in finding fifteen percent disability to Mettler’s
right lower extremity, and in failing to apportion Mettler’s lower extremity
disability under Iowa Code section 85.34(7) to account for the fact that
Mettler had lost part of the use of his right leg before he began working
for Waldinger. Mettler filed a cross-petition for judicial review requesting
his claim against the Second Injury Fund be remanded to the agency on
the ground that the agency miscalculated and understated his loss of
earnings as a factor in the assessment of industrial disability for
purposes of the award against the Second Injury Fund. The district
court affirmed the commissioner’s award for lower extremity disability
and rejected Waldinger’s contention that the disability should be
apportioned. The court also affirmed the award of healing period
benefits, but remanded the Second Injury Fund claim to the agency for
further proceedings as Mettler requested.
Waldinger and the Second Injury Fund appealed the district
court’s ruling, and we transferred the appeal to the court of appeals. The
court of appeals affirmed the commissioner’s determination that
Waldinger was liable for the entirety of Mettler’s lower extremity disability
but reversed the district court’s rulings remanding the industrial
disability claim against the Second Injury Fund and awarding healing
period benefits. Mettler filed an application urging us to review the two
issues which were reversed by the court of appeals. We granted further
review, however, to decide only whether the commissioner correctly
interpreted Iowa Code section 85.34(1) to allow an award of healing
period benefits for a period of disability commencing on September 18,
2007, the date of Mettler’s last surgery, until December 7, 2007, when he
7
returned to work as a plumber. We vacate the decision of the court of
appeals on the healing period issue and affirm the district court’s
judgment affirming the commissioner’s award of healing period benefits
under section 85.34(1). As our further review does not address them, the
decision of the court of appeals on all other matters raised in this appeal
shall be final.
II. Scope of Review.
Mettler’s claim for healing period benefits turns on whether the
workers’ compensation commissioner properly interpreted Iowa Code
section 85.34(1). This court has previously concluded in several cases
that the legislature did not grant the commissioner authority to interpret
chapter 85. See Finch v. Schneider Specialized Carriers, Inc., 700 N.W.2d
328, 330 (Iowa 2005); Mycogen Seeds v. Sands, 686 N.W.2d 457, 464
(Iowa 2004). However, we recently explored the analytical framework for
determining on judicial review the extent to which we give deference to
an agency’s interpretations of law. See Renda v. Iowa Civil Rights
Comm’n, 784 N.W.2d 8, 10 (Iowa 2010). Under the Renda framework,
our review of an agency’s interpretation of a statutory provision depends
on whether the legislature has clearly vested the agency with
discretionary authority to interpret the particular statutory provision. Id.
As we have not yet applied to section 85.34(1) the analytical framework
announced in Renda, we must consider the question of the extent to
which, if at all, the commissioner’s interpretation of section 85.34(1) is
entitled to deference on judicial review.
The legislature’s vesting of authority in an agency to interpret a
statute need not be expressed and may be found upon “an examination
of the phrases or statutory provisions to be interpreted, their context, the
purpose of the statute, and other practical considerations.” Id. at 11.
8
Our inquiry “must always involve an examination of the specific
statutory language at issue, as well as the functions of and duties
imposed on the agency.” Id. at 12. In the absence of explicit guidance
from the legislature, it is usually inappropriate to determine whether an
agency has authority to interpret an entire statute. Id. at 13.
“Accordingly, broad articulations of an agency’s authority, or lack of
authority, should be avoided in the absence of an express grant of broad
interpretive authority.” Id. at 14. Thus, our conclusions in prior cases
that the legislature granted the commissioner no authority to interpret
Iowa Code chapter 85, see, e.g., Mycogen Seeds, 686 N.W.2d at 464, were
overbroad and are incompatible with the new analytical framework
announced in Renda.
The legislature has granted to the commissioner the authority to
“[a]dopt and enforce rules necessary to implement” chapters 85, 85A,
85B, 86 and 87. Iowa Code § 86.8(1)(a). This legislative grant of broad
rulemaking authority is relevant to our determination of whether
interpretive discretion has been vested in the commissioner pertaining to
section 85.34(1), but it is not conclusive. Compare City of Marion v. Iowa
Dep’t of Revenue & Fin., 643 N.W.2d 205, 207 (Iowa 2002) (finding
agency vested with authority to promulgate rules “necessary and
advisable for its detailed administration” had discretion to interpret the
term “athletic sport,” a term not defined in the statute), with Iowa Land
Title Ass’n v. Iowa Fin. Auth., 771 N.W.2d 399, 402 (Iowa 2009)
(concluding the legislature’s delegation to the Iowa Finance Authority of
the authority to adopt rules “necessary for the implementation of the title
guaranty program” did not clearly vest the agency with authority to
interpret the terms “hardship” and “public interest” in Iowa Code section
16.91(5)). After surveying this court’s decisions in these cases and
9
others, we noted in Renda that our determination of whether the
legislature has clearly vested interpretive authority in an agency turns
not merely on a grant of broad rulemaking power, but on other case-
specific factors as well. Renda, 784 N.W.2d at 13–14. We must look
carefully “at the specific language the agency has interpreted as well as
the specific duties and authority given to the agency with respect to
enforcing particular statutes.” Id. at 13.
If we conclude authority has clearly been vested in the
commissioner for the interpretation of a statutory provision, we will
affirm the commissioner’s interpretation unless it is “[b]ased upon an
irrational, illogical, or wholly unjustifiable interpretation.” Iowa Code
§ 17A.19(10)(l). If, however, the commissioner has not been vested with
the authority to interpret the provision, we will accord no deference to
the commissioner’s interpretation. Id. § 17A.19(10)(c); see also Neal v.
Annett Holdings, Inc., 814 N.W.2d 512, 519 (Iowa 2012) (according no
deference to commissioner’s interpretation because the legislature did
not grant the commissioner authority to interpret the term “suitable
work” under Iowa Code section 85.33(3)).
III. Discussion.
Iowa Code section 85.34(1) provides:
Healing Period. If an employee has suffered a personal
injury causing permanent partial disability for which
compensation is payable as provided in subsection 2 of this
section, the employer shall pay to the employee
compensation for a healing period, as provided in section
85.37, beginning on the first day of disability after the injury,
and until the employee has returned to work or it is
medically indicated that significant improvement from the
injury is not anticipated or until the employee is medically
capable of returning to employment substantially similar to
the employment in which the employee was engaged at the
time of injury, whichever occurs first.
10
Iowa Code § 85.34(1).
Waldinger contends the commissioner erred in interpreting section
85.34(1) as allowing an award to Mettler of healing period benefits for a
period of postsurgical convalescence that occurred after he reached MMI3
on April 6, 2005, or returned to substantially similar work. Put another
way, Waldinger contends the proper interpretation of the statute does not
authorize the commissioner to order the resumption of healing period
benefits for approximately thirteen weeks during which Mettler was
unable to work as a consequence of the surgery performed on
September 18, 2007, because he had previously returned to
substantially similar work and reached MMI.
Mettler takes a different view of the statute, contending the
commissioner correctly interpreted section 85.34(1) as allowing for the
possibility of more than one healing period following a work-related
injury. Mettler contends the commissioner correctly interpreted the
statute as allowing a resumption of the healing period when, after
multiple surgeries, periods of convalescence, returns to work, and ratings
of permanent impairment by medical providers, a claimant again
becomes temporarily disabled from work as a consequence of ordinary
and necessary surgical treatment for the work-related injury.
3“MMI” is a term of art commonly used by the commissioner, attorneys
practicing in the field of workers’ compensation law, and medical providers expressing
opinions affecting claimants’ entitlement to healing period benefits and permanent
partial disability benefits under Iowa Code section 85.34. The term is used as an
alternative means of expressing the point at which “it is medically indicated that
significant improvement from the injury is not anticipated.” Iowa Code § 85.34(1). A
treatise on Iowa workers’ compensation law uses “maximum recuperation” as an
alternative moniker for the MMI concept. See 15 James R. Lawyer, Iowa Practice Series:
Workers’ Compensation, § 13:3, at 135 (2011).
11
To resolve the issue, we must first determine whether the
legislature clearly vested in the commissioner the authority to interpret
the phrase
the employer shall pay to the employee compensation for a
healing period . . . beginning on the first day of disability
after the injury, and until the employee has returned to work
or it is medically indicated that significant improvement from
the injury is not anticipated or until the employee is
medically capable of returning to employment substantially
similar to the employment in which the employee was
engaged at the time of the injury.
Id.
A. Commissioner’s Authority to Interpret Iowa Code Section
85.34(1). Iowa Code chapter 85 authorizes a range of benefits for a
worker who sustains a permanent partial disability in the course and
scope of his employment. Among these are health care benefits for the
treatment of the injury under section 85.27; healing period benefits
sustaining the injured employee during convalescence and disability
from work under section 85.34(1); and permanent partial disability
benefits under section 85.34(2)(a–t) for “scheduled” losses and section
85.34(2)(u) for all other injuries resulting in permanent partial disability.
The legislature has expressly delegated to the commissioner the
duty to implement and enforce these remedies against employers for
injuries sustained by their employees in the course and scope of
employment. See id. §§ 86.8(1)(a), 85.20. Under the Renda analysis,
however, our inquiry requires us to determine whether the legislature
nonetheless clearly granted the commissioner authority to interpret
section 85.34(1). Renda, 784 N.W.2d at 11–12.
In Office of Consumer Advocate v. Iowa Utilities Board, we
concluded the legislature’s directive to “adopt rules prohibiting an
unauthorized change in telecommunication service” evidenced a clear
12
vesting of authority in the Iowa Utilities Board to interpret the
unauthorized-change-in-service provisions in section 476.103. 744
N.W.2d 640, 643 (Iowa 2008); see also Evercom Sys., Inc. v. Iowa Utils.
Bd., 805 N.W.2d 758, 762–63 (Iowa 2011). We find no similar express
statutory grant of interpretive authority to the commissioner pertaining
to the commencement and termination of a healing period under section
85.34(1).
Section 85.34(1) leaves undefined several statutory terms and
phrases including “a healing period,” “disability,” “return[] to work,”
“significant improvement from the injury,” and “employment
substantially similar.” Although the commissioner is expressly directed
to “[a]dopt and enforce rules necessary to implement” chapter 85, this
directive standing alone did not constitute a clear vesting of interpretive
authority. Iowa Land Title, 771 N.W.2d at 402. Having reviewed the
language of the statute and considered the specific duties and authority
given to the commissioner under the provision, we are not persuaded
that the legislature clearly vested in the commissioner interpretive
authority for section 85.34(1). Accordingly, our review of the
commissioner’s interpretation of section 85.34(1) is for correction of
errors at law. NextEra Energy Res., LLC v. Iowa Utils. Bd., 815 N.W.2d
30, 37 (Iowa 2012).
B. Review of the Commissioner’s Interpretation of Section
85.34(1). The court of appeals decision reversing the commissioner’s
award of healing period benefits to Mettler for the period following the
2007 surgery relied on language from our decision in Ellingson v.
Fleetguard, Inc., 599 N.W.2d 440 (Iowa 1999). In that case, Ellingson
sought healing period benefits for times she was unable to work based on
a “retrogression” of her disability at times after the commissioner found
13
she had reached MMI. Ellingson, 599 N.W.2d at 447. Rejecting
Ellingson’s claim for additional healing period benefits for times after the
date upon which the commissioner found she had reached MMI, we said:
In contrast, once it has been established through a decision
of the commissioner or a reviewing court that further
significant improvement is not anticipated, all temporary
disability benefits from a single injury are finally terminated
to be followed by any permanent partial disability benefit
payments that are established by the commissioner’s order.
Id. We now conclude our interpretation in Ellingson of section 85.34(1)
as a categorical prohibition of an award of healing period benefits for
disability from work occurring after the date MMI has been achieved was
erroneous, and we therefore overrule it.
Our decision today acknowledges that section 85.34(1) makes
provision for “a healing period.” Relying on our decision in Ellingson and
reading the article “a” in the statute literally, the court of appeals
concluded that Mettler was not entitled to another healing period for the
time he was temporarily totally disabled from work following the
September 2007 surgery. We now conclude the article “a” in the phrase
“a healing period” was not intended by the legislature to limit healing
period benefits to a single period of temporary disability per injury. In
other contexts, we have found the article “a” to be unclear.
“A” means “one” or “any,” but less emphatically than either.
It may mean one where only one is intended, or it may mean
any one of a great number. It is placed before nouns of the
singular number, denoting an individual object or quality
individualized.
The article “a” is not necessarily a singular term; it is often
used in the sense of “any” and is then applied to more than
one individual object. . . . [T]he meaning depends on
context.
Voss v. Iowa Dep’t of Transp., 621 N.W.2d 208, 211 (Iowa 2001) (internal
quotations marks and citation omitted). As used in the context of section
14
85.34(1), we conclude the legislature intended “a” to express the sense of
“any.”
When, after achieving MMI, a claimant is rendered temporarily
disabled from work, as Mettler was, as a consequence of surgical
treatment provided under section 85.27 for a work-related injury, a new
healing period begins under section 85.34(1). Our suggestion to the
contrary in Ellingson was flawed for two reasons. First, it diminished the
promise of continuing medical care for work-related injuries under
section 85.27 by eliminating the healing period remedy intended to
replace wages lost during convalescence from ordinary and necessary
treatment in scenarios presenting more than one period of temporary
disability from work following a single injury. Further, it ignored the fact
that a single injury can cause a new period of temporary disability even
after a claimant has achieved MMI.
The employer’s obligation to provide medical treatment under
section 85.27 for work-related injuries is not limited to the duration of a
healing period. See 15 James R. Lawyer, Iowa Practice Series: Workers’
Compensation, § 15:1, at 182–83 (2011) [hereinafter Lawyer]. As in
Mettler’s case, an injured employee’s need for ongoing medical care
sometimes extends well beyond the duration of an initial period of
convalescence and becomes manifest after a return to work or after
periods of work interrupted by physician-directed time off work. On
occasion, as in Mettler’s case, an authorized treating physician
prescribes and provides surgical treatment after the injured employee
has returned to work or was thought to have achieved MMI. We see no
principled reason why Mettler, or any similarly situated claimant, should
be disqualified from a healing period remedy when ordinary and
necessary medical care for a work-related injury temporarily removes
15
them again from the work force. 4 The commissioner’s interpretation of
section 85.34(1) allowing a new healing period for a new period of
disability during Mettler’s convalescence from the 2007 surgery,
notwithstanding the 2005 MMI date, correctly recognized that, at least
until Mettler’s claim is time-barred, the availability of a healing period
remedy turned on whether a new period of disability from work caused
by the August 9, 2001 injury began on the day of the September 18,
2007 surgery.
Among the alternative markers of the end of the healing period is
the phrase “the employee has returned to work.” Certainly, some
attempts to return to work are unsuccessful and temporary. “Where the
language is of doubtful meaning, or where an adherence to the strict
letter would lead to injustice, to absurdity, or to contradictory provisions,
the duty of ascertaining the true meaning devolves upon the court.”
Case v. Olson, 234 Iowa 869, 872, 14 N.W.2d 717, 719 (1944); accord 2A
Norman J. Singer & J.D. Shambie Singer, Statutes and Statutory
Construction § 45:12, at 101 (7th ed. 2007) (“It is fundamental, however,
that departure from the literal construction of a statute is justified when
such a construction would produce an absurd and unjust result and
would clearly be inconsistent with the purposes and policies of the act in
question.”). Our interpretation of section 85.34(1) announced today
avoids the absurd and unjust result that would arise if the statute were
interpreted to allow only one course of healing period benefits for a single
injury. We cannot conclude the legislature intended to deny additional
4As this appeal proceeds from an agency arbitration decision, we do not address
whether a claimant’s access to a healing period remedy for an injury ends as a matter of
law with the expiration of the limitations period for filing a review reopening proceeding
under Iowa Code section 85.26(2).
16
healing period benefits when an injured employee’s return to work proves
unsuccessful and a new period of temporary disability from work begins
or—as in Mettler’s case—invasive medical treatment for the work-related
injury again renders him temporarily disabled from work.
Among the other indicators of the end of a healing period is the
employee’s achievement of MMI. Characterized by the legislature as that
point in the convalescence from which “it is medically indicated that
further significant improvement from the injury is not anticipated,”
section 85.34(1) leaves room for the possibility that continuing medical
treatment provided by the employer under section 85.27 can result in a
series of intermittent invasive treatments, periods of temporary disability
from work and convalescence, serial MMI dates, and revised permanent
disability ratings following a single work-related injury.
Furthermore, our interpretation of the statutory provision is
consistent with our long-standing principle of construction of the
workers’ compensation statute. The workers’ compensation statute was
adopted “for the benefit of the working [person] and should be, within
reason, liberally construed.” Barton v. Nevada Poultry Co., 253 Iowa 285,
289, 110 N.W.2d 660, 662 (1961). Our interpretation of section 85.34(1)
also notably conforms to the commissioner’s long-standing interpretation
of section 85.34(1) in cases involving intermittent periods of disability
from work following a work-related injury. See 15 Lawyer, § 13:3, at
138–39 (“Healing period for an injury may terminate and then begin
again.”). Accordingly, we conclude the commissioner correctly
interpreted section 85.34(1) as allowing a new course of healing period
benefits during Mettler’s temporary disability from work following surgery
from September 18 through December 7, 2007, notwithstanding his prior
17
returns to work and earlier achievements of MMI following previous
surgeries performed in the treatment of a single work-related injury.
The court of appeals also concluded the commissioner’s award of
healing period benefits must fail because the record contained no
evidence supporting a finding that Mettler’s “doctors anticipated
reasonable improvement from the [2007 surgery].” As we affirm in this
case the commissioner’s interpretation of section 85.34(1) allowing an
award of healing period benefits for a new period of disability beginning
after the claimant reached MMI under the circumstances presented here,
we need not address whether the record supports a finding that
significant improvement was anticipated from the 2007 surgery. 5 The
dispositive question is whether the treatment provided to Mettler under
section 85.27 resulted in a new period of disability from work during the
period of convalescence at a time before the claim for benefits for the
injury of August 9, 2001, was time-barred. It clearly did.
IV. Conclusion.
We vacate only that part of the decision of the court of appeals
reversing the award of healing period benefits. The disposition by the
court of appeals of all other issues raised on appeal is affirmed.
COURT OF APPEALS DECISION AFFIRMED IN PART AND
VACATED IN PART; DISTRICT COURT JUDGEMENT AFFIRMED IN
PART AND REVERSED IN PART; AND CASE REMANDED.
All justices concur except Waterman, J., who concurs specially and
Mansfield, J., who takes no part.
5It seems to us a reasonable inference, however, that the surgeon who performed
the 2007 surgery anticipated some improvement in the injured ankle as a consequence
of the treatment.
18
#10–0502, Waldinger Corp. v. Mettler
WATERMAN, Justice (concurring specially).
I respectfully specially concur. I agree with the majority’s outcome
because it is consistent with the workers’ compensation commissioner’s
interpretation of Iowa Code section 85.34(1) (2011). My adherence to
stare decisis precludes me from joining the full opinion. This decision
turns on the interpretation of a term of art—“healing period”—that is
unique to the workers’ compensation law administered by the
commissioner. The majority interprets that language itself without
acknowledging the agency’s interpretive authority or the deference owed
to its interpretation of that specialized term within its expertise. See
Renda v. Iowa Civil Rights Comm’n, 784 N.W.2d 8, 11–12 (Iowa 2010). I
would apply Renda and defer to the agency’s interpretation of the
healing-period provision to reach the same result.