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Appleby v. State ex rel Wyoming Workers' Safety and Compensation Div.6/5/2002
[ ] Appellant Irene Aaker Appleby (Appleby) challenges a decision by the Appellee Department of Employment Workers' Safety and Compensation Division's (Division) Internal Hearing Unit (IHU) that she did not file a timely request for hearing from the Division's final determination denying benefits. Before the IHU, Appleby contended that the Division was equitably estopped from denying her a contested case hearing for failure to timely file, and the hearing examiner for the IHU initially agreed with that contention and recommended a contested case hearing. The Division objected to that recommendation, and the matter was referred to the Interim Director of the Department of Employment (Director) who concluded that equitable estoppel did not apply, and denied Appleby a contested case hearing.
[ ] We reverse and remand for a contested case hearing before the appropriate hearing authority, either the Office of Administrative Hearings or the Medical Commission, in accordance with Wyo. Stat. Ann. ยง 27-14-601(k)(v).
ISSUES
[ ] Appleby presents these issues for our review:
1. Whether the Final Agency Order issued by the Interim Director of the Department of Employment, State of Wyoming rejecting the Hearing Officer's Report and Recommended Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law, and Order dated December 14, 1999 was arbitrary, capricious, and an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law.
2. Whether the July 19, 2000 Order Affirming Agency Decision of the Seventh Judicial District was arbitrary, capricious, and an abuse of discretion and otherwise not in accordance with law.
The Division rephrases the issues:
I. Does equitable estoppel excuse Appellant's failure to file a timely objection to the Division's final Determination?
II. Did Appellant establish all the elements of her claim for equitable estoppel?
FACTS
[ ] Appleby has been a checker for Safeway for twenty-five years. While performing those duties, Appleby began to experience aching wrists and arms and sought medical attention. She was treated conservatively and continued to work. In April of 1999, her doctors informed her that she would need surgery and would miss twelve to fourteen weeks of work. Her medical insurer informed her that worker's compensation benefits were available, and Appleby filed an injury report. In the small box on the report form that asked for date of injury, Appleby wrote October 26, 1998. In the small box asking time of injury and time of shift, Appleby wrote "n/a."
[ ] On April 20, 1999, the Division issued its final determination letter informing her it had denied benefits f or these reasons:
Your claim for benefits was not filed within the statute of limitations pursuant to Wyoming Statute 27-14-503(a).
The burden of proof in contested cases involving injuries which occur over a substantial period of time is on the employee to prove by competent medical authority that his/her claim arose out of and in the course of his/her employment and to prove by a preponderance of evidence that:
a. There is a direct causal connection between the condition or circumstances under which the work is performed and the injury.
b. The injury can be seen to have followed as a natural incident of the work as a result of the employment.
c. The injury can fairly be traced to the employment as a proximate cause.
d. The injury does not come from a hazard to which employees would have been equally exposed outside of the employment.
e. The injury is incidental to the character of the business an
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