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Western Co. of North America v. Nicholson6/8/1993
The opinion of the court was delivered by: WATT, Justice.
This is an appeal from an order of the Workers' Compensation Court awarding Nicholson payments for permanent total disability. The trial court found that Nicholson's permanent total disability was solely caused by a June 1990 on-the-job injury Nicholson sustained to his left knee while working for Respondent, the Western Company.
The Western Company appealed to a three judge panel of the Workers' Compensation Court, complaining the record failed to support the finding that the June 1990 injury solely caused Nicholson's permanent total disability. In addition, the Western Company claimed that the trial court considered neither Nicholson's preexisting disabilities nor his transferrable skills. The three judge panel, made up of Judges Lynn, Willis, and West, affirmed by a vote of two to one. Judge West dissented, saying that she "would remand for a finding of permanent partial disability to the knee and deny permanent total disability."
The Western Company appealed the three judge panel's order to the Court of Appeals, Division 3. The Court of Appeals affirmed on the ground the record supported the trial court's finding that Nicholson's permanent partial disability was solely caused by the June 1990 injury to his left knee. We granted certiorari on March 1, 1993.
FACTS
On July 19, 1990, Nicholson filed in the trial court his Employee's First Notice of Accidental Injury and Claim for Compensation, Form 3. Nicholson claimed that he had torn the cartilage in his left knee when he stepped in a hole while working for Western Company. This is undisputed.
The Form 3 contains a question asking whether the claimant is a "physically impaired person." If the employee claims to be a physically impaired person, the Form 3 requests that he "describe the impairment and give the dates of the injuries and of any court orders." There is a blank on the Form 3 in which the employee is to answer "Yes" if he is physically impaired. Nicholson failed to fill in this blank but described surgical repairs to both knees and an injury to his left shoulder that caused a combined seventy-five to eighty-five percent impairment. In addition, Nicholson recited that he had been sixty-eight and nine-tenths percent disabled from having lost an eye in 1979.
On April 9, 1985, the workers' Compensation Court entered an order in another matter approving a joint petition settlement between Nicholson and the Special Indemnity Fund. In that order the court recited that Nicholson "has sustained 105 percent permanent partial disability to the body as a whole." The disability was from four injuries sustained to Nicholson's left leg (20%), right leg (15%), neck (10%), and eye (66 2/3%) between 1971 and 1978.
The Workers' Compensation Court entered an order in a third matter involving Nicholson and his then employer, Epi Center, Inc., on July 25, 1988. The court approved Epi Center's payment to Nicholson of $18,337.50 in settlement of all claims arising from an on the job injury sustained on October 26, 1987. Nicholson settled for injuries to his "right leg, lungs and all other claims known or unknown."
Nicholson suffers from diabetes. He also has a genetic tendon deficiency in his hands.
Because of his June 12, 1990 injury, Nicholson's left knee joint was replaced with a prosthetic one. Complications resulted, including infection, which resulted in the need for additional surgeries, including a second joint replacement. Nicholson's left knee is painful, and he has significant weakness in his left leg. He
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