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Fayetteville School Dist. v. Kunzelman11/16/2005
This is a workers' compensation case. The Commission affirmed and adopted the ALJ's decision, which found that appellee, James Kunzelman, sustained a compensable right-eye injury on January 7, 2003, and that he was entitled to additional medical treatment for his right eye, reimbursement for sunglasses, and $3000 for permanent facial disfigurement. For their sole point of appeal, appellants, Fayetteville School District and Risk Management Resources, contend that the Commission's opinion is not supported by substantial evidence. We affirm the Commission.
Standard of Review
When reviewing a decision from the Workers' Compensation Commission, we view the evidence and all reasonable inferences deducible therefrom in the light most favorable to the findings of the Commission and affirm that decision if it is supported by substantial evidence. Swaim v. Wal-Mart Assocs., Inc., ____ Ark. App. ____, ____ S.W.3d ____ (May 25, 2005). Substantial evidence is that which a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion. Id. The issue is not whether the appellate court might have reached a different result from the Commission; if reasonable minds could reach the result found by the Commission, the appellate court must affirm the decision. Id. When the Commission affirms and adopts the ALJ's opinion as the decision of the Commission, the Commission makes the ALJ's findings and conclusions the findings and conclusions of the Commission. Id. Therefore, in reviewing the case, we consider both the ALJ's decision and the Commission's majority opinion. See id.
Award of Additional Benefits
The parties stipulated below that appellee sustained a compensable injury to his eye on January 7, 2003, and that medical expenses had been paid to December 15, 2003. The issues that the parties agreed to litigate were 1) additional medical after December 5, 2003, and 2) permanent disfigurement pursuant to Arkansas Code Annotated section 11- 9-524 (Repl. 2002).
For their sole point of appeal, appellants contend that the Commission's award of additional benefits to appellee is not supported by substantial evidence, and that " nstead, the evidence in this case reveals that the appellants provided the appellee with extensive medical treatment for a condition which is not the result of a work-related accident." In support of this assertion, appellants contend that "the medical testimony of the regional specialist on iritis, Dr. Christopher Walton, shows that the treatment the appellee received, as well as the dilated condition of the appellee's eye, is due to herpes." The bulk of appellants' argument then consists of recounting the evidence that they contend supports their position and undermines appellee's. We do not find the argument convincing.
Appellee testified that on January 7, 2003, as he was stirring a ceramic glaze for his art class, "either some glaze splashed into my eye, or it splashed onto my face, and I wiped my face with my hand." He stated that he kept working for another twenty to thirty minutes until his students got to class and that when the students entered they immediately asked him what was wrong with his eye. He said that he looked in the mirror and then ran to the nurse's office. He said that his right eye was very bloodshot; that the nurse told him to flush it out; and that he did so for five to six minutes. He explained that by 3:30 that afternoon, his eye had become so light sensitive that he could not go outside without completely closing his eye.
He stated that after school he went by the office of his friend, Don Marr, and then to the office of Dr. Brian Buell, an optometrist. He stated that he had some pain and di
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