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Igawa v. Koa House Restaurant8/30/2001
MOON, C.J., LEVINSON, NAKAYAMA, AND RAMIL, JJ. AND ACOBA, J., CONCURRING IN PART AND DISSENTING IN PART
Petitioner-employer-appellee Koa House Restaurant (Koa House) and petitioner-insurance carrier-appellee Pacific Insurance Company (collectively, Employer) apply to this court for a writ of certiorari to review the memorandum opinion of the Intermediate Court of Appeals (ICA) in Igawa v. Koa House Restaurant, No. 22464 (Haw. Ct. App. Feb. 2, 2001) [hereinafter, the "ICA's opinion"], reversing in part and affirming in part the decision and order of the Labor and Industrial Relations Appeal Board (LIRAB or the Board). Employer argues that the ICA gravely erred by: 1) applying the HRS ยง 386-85(1) (1993) presumption of compensability to the determination of permanent partial disability (PPD) benefits and disfigurement benefits; 2) rejecting Employer's experts' opinions that respondent-claimant-appellant, Darryl Igawa (Claimant) had no work-related permanent impairment; and 3) overruling several of the Board's findings of fact that were not at issue on appeal. We hold that Employer adduced substantial evidence so as to rebut the presumption of compensability and that the Board's findings that Claimant did not suffer any permanent physical or psychological impairment as a result of a work-related incident were not clearly erroneous. Therefore, we reverse part III.A. of the ICA's opinion and affirm the Board's denial of PPD benefits to Claimant.
I. BACKGROUND
On October 3, 1991, Claimant was employed as a cook for Koa House. As Claimant was reaching for another pot, a "big soup pot" fell approximately two feet and hit him above his right eyebrow. The blow also caused his neck to jerk back. Claimant felt dazed, but did not lose consciousness. In the years following the injury, Claimant saw numerous physicians for the treatment of the symptoms that he subsequently developed and for evaluations in the course of his workers' compensation claim.
On November 3, 1993, Yoshio Hosobuchi, M.D., reported that Claimant was suffering from paroxysmal headaches and seizures and that his magnetic resonance imaging test indicated that he had a cyst on his right frontal lobe. Dr. Hosobuchi's impression was that the cyst "probably formed post traumatically secondary to pre-existing cavernous angioma." Dr. Hosobuchi recommended that the cyst be surgically removed. Because Employer did not authorize the surgery, Claimant requested a hearing before the LIRAB Disability Compensation Division. The hearing was scheduled for September 4, 1994.
On October 31, 1994, the Director of the Disability Compensation Division (the Director) rendered a written decision. In the findings of fact, the Director noted that Maurice Nicholson, M.D., opined that the original cause of the cyst was an injury that occurred in 1975. The Director noted that there was conflicting medical testimony as to whether Claimant's condition was attributable to the work injury or to the 1975 injury. The Director stated:
Upon review of the entire matter, it is determined that the surgical excision of the lesion from the right frontal lobe appears to be reasonable and necessary medical care which relates to said [work] injury.
We credit Dr. Hosobuchi's reports . . . in which he opines that claimant "had a small cavernous angioma in the right frontal lobe and because of the head injury it may have hemorrhaged causing headache and seizure problems." Further, Dr. Hosobuchi opines that surgery would eliminate claimant's headache's and seizures.
The Director found that: there was insufficient medical evidence to rebut Dr. Hosobuchi's opinions; the medical evidence indicated that C
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