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Las Vegas Housing Authority v. Root8/30/2000
At issue in this case is which of two successive employers is liable for workers' compensation benefits when an employee sustains a later industrial injury that aggravates an earlier industrial injury. An administrative appeals officer held the first employer liable by requiring reopening of the employee's original claim under NRS 616C.390. We conclude the appeals officer should have held the subsequent employer liable under the last injurious exposure rule, which places full liability upon the employer covering the risk at the time of the most recent industrial injury that bears a causal relation to the employee's disability, rather than resolving the matter under the claim reopening statute. Because the appeals officer misapplied the law, the district court should have granted judicial review and reversed the administrative decision.
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
Respondent Gerald Root injured his left shoulder in 1981 while working for appellant Las Vegas Housing Authority (LVHA). Appellant Employers Insurance Company of Nevada's predecessor, the State Industrial Insurance System (SIIS), accepted Root's workers' compensation claim. Root was treated for shoulder strain, but he received no disability benefits, and the claim was closed in 1982. Root worked full duty for LVHA for another five or six years, then worked for Stratton Electric, Inc., for two years. In 1989 Root began working as a maintenance man for the City of Henderson, a self-insured employer.
In April 1994 Root injured his right shoulder at work. The City's claims administrator, CDS of Nevada, ultimately accepted Root's workers' compensation claim, and Root underwent right shoulder surgery a year later, in April 1995. While awaiting surgery and during recovery, Root favored his right shoulder and overused his left shoulder, which began hurting. In October 1995 Root sought treatment for pain in his left shoulder, and in November 1995 he requested that his 1981 claim be reopened.
In January 1996, while trying to move a water line with a wrench held in his left hand, Root felt a sudden pain and a tearing sensation in his left shoulder. He finished his shift, reported the injury to his supervisor that evening, and filed a written injury report the following day. Root's physician later concluded that Root had probably sustained a rotator cuff tear. Root submitted a workers' compensation claim with the City. CDS denied the claim under NRS 616.50185 (now NRS 616C.175) based on Root's pre-existing problems with his left shoulder. An administrative hearing officer reversed the claim denial, and the City appealed. Meanwhile, SIIS denied Root's reopening request. An administrative hearing officer affirmed, and Root appealed. The appeals were consolidated.
In February 1996, while the administrative appeals were pending, Root underwent surgery to repair the torn rotator cuff in his left shoulder. The surgeon discovered the supraspinatus tendon was torn across its entire width, the coracoacromial ligament and biceps tendons were frayed and the synovial membranes were inflamed; however, the surgeon could not tell from the appearance of these conditions when or how they developed. A number of doctors rendered opinions regarding causation; some related Root's torn rotator cuff back to the 1981 injury and natural deterioration, aggravated by the 1994 and 1996 injuries, and some concluded that the torn rotator cuff resulted solely from the 1996 injury.
The appeals officer concluded "the 1996 incident was an aggravation of the 1981 injury." Noting that Root's left shoulder had already become symptomatic in late 1995, before the January 1996 incident with the wrench, the appeals officer
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