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Blane Devillier Trucking11/5/2003
PUBLISHED
AFFIRMED.
In this workers' compensation matter, the employer alleges that the claimant employee committed fraud in violation of La.R.S. 23:1208 and seeks reimbursement for benefits paid. The workers' compensation judge determined that the claimant had violated La.R.S. 23:1208 for the purpose of obtaining workers' compensation benefits by willfully making false statements about his prior medical history. The claimant appeals, asserting that the workers' compensation judge committed manifest error in determining that a violation of La.R.S. 23:1208 occurred and in denying his claim for attorney's fees due to the employer's alleged arbitrary and capricious denial of benefits. The employer answered the appeal, contending that the workers' compensation judge erred in failing to order the claimant to reimburse the employer for benefits paid and further arguing that the appeal is frivolous per La.Code Civ.P. art. 2164. We affirm.
Factual and Procedural Background
Anthony Authement, the claimant herein, began working for Blane Devillier Trucking, Inc., in Lake Charles in December 1999, as a driver. His duties primarily consisted of transporting rice back and forth from a rice mill to the port of Lake Charles. On one such delivery that took place on May 2, 2000, Mr. Authement was using a pallet bar in an effort to spread pallets around the bed of his truck when the bar slipped. Mr. Authement fell backwards, landing half-on, half-off of the truck. The record shows that over the course of the following two months, Mr. Authement visited several doctors complaining primarily of back pain that radiated into his legs. Authement's orthopedist, Dr. James Perry, ordered an MRI, which showed a herniated lumbar disc.
As part of the process of disbursing workers' compensation benefits, Devillier's insurance adjuster, Ms. Linda Blount, provided Mr. Authement with a packet of questionnaires and assorted documents that he was to complete and return. The adjuster testified at trial that in the course of this information-gathering process, she received a document from the Marine Index Bureau indicating that Mr. Authement had fallen and hurt his back in 1985 while working for Cameron Offshore, Inc., against whom he subsequently filed suit. That suit was later settled. The adjuster explained that upon receipt of this information, she took two recorded statements from Mr. Authement in which she questioned him about prior back injuries. She noted that he categorically denied any and all prior problems with his back. Moreover, the adjuster obtained Mr. Authement's medical records from local physicians dating from before the accident at Devillier, which showed numerous trips to the emergency room in which Mr. Authement presented complaints of severe back pain radiating into the legs. The adjuster notified Devillier, who promptly terminated Mr. Authement's workers' compensation benefits. Devillier filed a disputed claim with the Office of Workers' Compensation, seeking validation of its action to terminate. In addition, Devillier requested reimbursement for the benefits they had paid out on Mr. Authement's behalf.
The workers' compensation judge found in favor of Devillier, concluding that Mr. Authement had committed fraud for the purpose of obtaining workers' compensation benefits in violation of La.R.S. 23:1208 by making false statements in which he denied prior back injuries. However, the workers' compensation judge did not grant Devillier's request for reimbursement.
In the instant appeal, Mr. Authement has designated the following assignments of error:
1. The [workers' compensation judge] committed manifest error in finding tha
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