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Gardens at Rivermont v. Valadez-Baird9/29/1998
COURT OF APPEALS OF OKLAHOMA, DIVISION 2
GARDENS AT RIVERMONT v. VALADEZ-BAIRD
Decided: September 29, 1998
Court of Appeals of Oklahoma, Division 2
RELEASED FOR PUBLICATION BY ORDER OF THE COURT OF CIVIL APPEALS
PROCEEDING TO REVIEW ORDER OF THE WORKERS' COMPENSATION COURT THREE-JUDGE judges
Honorable Richard L. Blanchard, Trial Judge
VACATED AND REMANDED WITH INSTRUCTIONS
This is a proceeding to review an order of a Workers' Compensation Court three-Judge panel affirming the trial court's award of benefits for a work-related aggravation of the claimant's pre-existing physical condition. Based upon our review of the record and applicable law, we vacate the order, and remand the matter for further proceedings.
I
Claimant Patricia Valadez-Baird filed her Form 3 April 25, 1996, alleging she injured her right knee March 4, 1996, during the course of her employment as a medication aide for employer Gardens at Rivermont. The trial court held a hearing September 4, 1997, on the claimant's request for temporary total disability and permanent partial disability benefits.
The claimant testified that in 1987 she was treated for an injury to her right knee after she had been thrown from a horse. After milking cows at a dairy farm in May 1994, she experienced pain and swelling in the right knee and was prescribed anti-inflammatory medication which she took for "a month or two."
In October 1995, the claimant began working for the employer. She said she occasionally wore a knee brace at work which had been prescribed by a previous doctor. She testified her shift began at 11 p.m., and she and a co-worker from the shift ending at 11 p.m. customarily met in an outdoor patio area to smoke a cigarette and discuss the prior shift. She said she "was doing our books and I was walking [through the patio doors] and my knee locked up and I felt pain." She received medical treatment at a hospital emergency room where she was diagnosed with possible torn ligaments. The hospital provided pain medication and a knee immobilizer. The claimant returned to work two days later, and underwent arthroscopic knee surgery March 14, 1996. Her treating physician released her to return to work May 13, 1996, and she began work as a private home health aide for an elderly patient. In July 1996, the claimant said she developed back pain radiating to her right hip and later amended her claim to include an alleged back injury. The claimant's patient died in September 1996, and the claimant began working as a day care provider in November 1996, but quit due to unrelated complications with a pregnancy. At the time of trial, she had not returned to work.
The claimant presented the medical report of her expert who concluded that, as a result of her injury of March 4, 1996, the claimant had sustained 45 percent permanent partial impairment to the right leg due to injury to her knee over and above a pre-existing 5 percent impairment, and 20 percent permanent partial impairment to the whole person due to loss of range of motion in the lumbar spine over and above a pre-existing 4 percent impairment. He stated the claimant had been temporarily and totally impaired from March 14, 1996, "until she returned to work in June of 1996." When the court asked for any objection to the report, the employer stated: "As to its competency, I believe on its face it is competent and I would just offer a probative value objection." The court denied the objection.
The employer presented the testimony of two of the claimant's former co-workers to dispute aspects of her testimony. T
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