Operators Conslt Svc v. DOWCP ( 2006 )

United States Court of Appeals
Fifth Circuit
F I L E D
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
March 31, 2006
FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT
Charles R. Fulbruge III
Clerk
____________________
No. 04-60598
____________________
OPERATORS & CONSULTING SERVICES, INCORPORATED; ZURICH
AMERICAN INSURANCE COMPANY,
Petitioners
v.
DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF WORKER’S COMPENSATION PROGRAMS, US
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR; DANOS & CUROLE MARINE CONTRACTORS
INCORPORATED; GRAY INSURANCE COMPANY; JAMES MORRISON,
Respondents
_________________________________________________________________
Petition for Review:
Benefits Review Board
No. 03-0541
_________________________________________________________________
Before JONES, Chief Judge, and KING and DENNIS, Circuit Judges.
KING, Circuit Judge:*
Petitioners Operators & Consulting Services, Incorporated
and Zurich American Insurance Company seek review of an order of
the Department of Labor’s Benefits Review Board. In this order,
the Benefits Review Board affirmed the decision of an
administrative law judge which imposed an employee’s medical
*
Pursuant to 5TH CIR. R. 47.5, the court has determined
that this opinion should not be published and is not precedent
except under the limited circumstances set forth in 5TH CIR. R.
47.5.4.
costs and disability payments upon Operators & Consulting
Services under the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation
Act, 33 U.S.C. § 901 et seq. The petitioners argue that the
Benefits Review Board misapplied the “aggravation rule” and
erroneously concluded that the decision of the administrative law
judge was supported by substantial evidence. For the reasons
provided below, this petition for review is DENIED and the
decision of the Benefits Review Board is AFFIRMED.
I. BACKGROUND
A. Factual Background
Pursuant to a contract with Burlington Resources
(“Burlington”), petitioner Operators & Consulting Services, Inc.
(“OCS”) provided workers to operate an offshore oil platform.
OCS hired claimant-respondent James Morrison (“Morrison”) to
repair mechanical equipment on this platform. On October 16,
1997, Morrison injured his back while using a ladder on the
platform.1 One week after his injury, Morrison sought treatment
from a chiropractor, Dr. Karri Gramlich (“Gramlich”), who treated
Morrison on a regular basis until February 1998. After the
accident, Morrison quickly returned to work. Initially
restricted to light-duty work, he soon resumed his regular course
of activity on the platform, although he continued to experience
1
More specifically, Morrison testified that he injured
his back as he swung over a tall guardrail while climbing down a
ladder on a water tank.
2
back pain. In February 1998, Gramlich cleared Morrison to return
to the full scope of his previous duties and ceased to treat him,
although Morrison continued to complain of discomfort and pain.
In May 1998, Burlington ended its contract with OCS and
contracted with respondent Danos & Curole Marine Contractors,
Inc. (“Danos & Curole”) to provide similar services. Danos &
Curole decided to retain Morrison in his position as field
mechanic and formally hired him on May 8, 1998, after he
successfully completed a pre-employment agility test. Morrison’s
physical discomfort persisted, however, and he returned to
Gramlich for treatment on May 22, 1998.
At this time, Morrison complained to Gramlich of the
familiar pain in his lower back, but he also reported numbness
and tingling pain in his leg, symptoms which first appeared in
March 1998 (before he began working for Danos & Curole). During
the administrative hearing, Morrison testified that he was
involved in several physically strenuous jobs while working for
Danos & Curole, including a particularly arduous week in which he
performed a total engine overhaul. Following physically
strenuous jobs, his back pain would increase, but his symptoms
would lessen following rest. Morrison also claimed that he did
not think any specific event after the initial injury he suffered
while working for OCS caused his condition to worsen, but rather
that his back progressively “went down.”
3
Gramlich continued this second round of treatment until
September 1998. Despite her efforts, Morrison’s condition showed
little improvement, and she eventually referred him to a
neurosurgeon, Dr. Andrew Wilson (“Wilson”). Wilson began
treating Morrison on September 15, 1998, but Morrison’s condition
continued to worsen, and Wilson advised him to consider surgery.
Because Morrison was unable to continue work, Danos & Curole
terminated his employment on October 22, 1998. At his
administrative hearing, Morrison testified that his condition
continued to deteriorate even after he stopped working for Danos
& Curole despite the fact that he had wholly avoided strenuous
physical activity. Wilson’s testimony generally tended to
confirm Morrison’s account. After a series of diagnostic tests
revealed a disc herniation and nerve root impingement, Wilson
performed lumbar fusion surgery on July 9, 2001. On June 6,
2002, Wilson declared that Morrison’s condition had improved as
much as possible, but that Morrison would be left with an
eighteen percent whole body impairment, permanently limiting him
to light-duty work in the future.
B. Procedural Background
Morrison filed claims for disability compensation and
medical expenses against both OCS and Danos & Curole pursuant to
the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act, 33 U.S.C.
§ 901 et seq. [hereinafter “LHWCA” or “Act”]. OCS voluntarily
4
paid Morrison temporary total disability compensation from
September 23, 1998 to June 5, 2002; thereafter, OCS paid Morrison
permanent partial disability and medical benefits. OCS asserted
that Danos & Curole should be liable for all subsequent and
further disability and medical benefits because Morrison’s work
for Danos & Curole aggravated his original condition. Danos &
Curole denied responsibility for Morrison’s disability, arguing
that it resulted from the natural progression of the injury
Morrison suffered on October 16, 1997, while working for OCS.
A formal administrative hearing was held before an
administrative law judge (“ALJ”) on January 23, 2003. The only
issue considered at any length by the ALJ was which of the two
employers--OCS or Danos & Curole--was responsible for Morrison’s
medical expenses and disability compensation. During the
hearing, the ALJ considered testimony and evidence provided by
Morrison, Gramlich, Wilson, Dr. Anthony Ioppolo, a neurosurgeon
who examined Morrison on behalf of OCS on three different
occasions, and Martin Knijn (“Knijn”), a physical therapist who
conducted Morrison’s pre-employment evaluation for Danos &
Curole.
On April 16, 2003, the ALJ issued his decision. In this
decision, the ALJ accepted Danos & Curole’s arguments, finding
both that Morrison’s disability was attributable to the natural
progression of the injury he suffered in October of 1997 while
working for OCS and that his deteriorating back condition was not
5
aggravated during his brief employment with Danos & Curole.
Guided in part by this court’s en banc opinion in Strachan
Shipping Co. v. Nash, 782 F.2d 513 (5th Cir. 1986), and based on
Wilson’s and Gramlich’s testimony, as well as Morrison’s own
description of his symptoms, the ALJ concluded that Morrison’s
medical condition and resultant surgery were the consequence of
his injury on October 16, 1997, and were neither caused nor
aggravated by his subsequent employment with Danos & Curole. As
a result, the ALJ held OCS responsible for all of Morrison’s
medical and disability benefits.
OCS appealed the ALJ’s decision to the Department of Labor’s
Benefits Review Board (“BRB” or “Board”), which affirmed the
ALJ’s ruling on May 14, 2004. In its appeal, OCS essentially
argued that the ALJ erred in failing to find that Morrison’s
underlying back condition was aggravated by his employment duties
with Danos & Curole. The BRB rejected OCS’s arguments, finding
that the characterization of the record evidence and the
assessment of the witnesses’ credibility offered by OCS did not
provide a basis for overturning the ALJ’s credibility
determinations and evaluation of the evidence.
The petitioners filed their initial petition for review with
this court on July 12, 2004.
II. DISCUSSION
6
The only seriously contested issue before the ALJ was which
employer and carrier were liable for Morrison’s disability. An
administrative fact finder in a case such as this must apply the
“aggravation rule,” which requires a detailed examination of the
case-specific medical evidence. “[T]he aggravation rule is a
doctrine of general workers’ compensation law which provides
that, where an employment injury worsens or combines with a
preexisting impairment to produce a disability greater than that
which would have resulted from the employment injury alone, the
entire resulting disability is compensable.” Strachan, 782 F.2d
at 517 (citing A. LARSON, LAW OF WORKMEN’S COMPENSATION (1982)); see
also Ortco Contractors, Inc. v. Charpentier, 332 F.3d 283, 290
(5th Cir. 2003) (stating that an employer is liable under the
aggravation rule when an employment injury creates, worsens, or
combines with a preexisting condition to create a new and greater
disability). Where the preexisting impairment results from an
injury which occurred during the course of employment with a
prior employer such as OCS, a second or final employer such as
Danos & Curole is liable under the aggravation rule for the
entire cost of an employee’s disability if the preexisting
impairment was aggravated during the course of the employee’s
second or final employment. On the other hand, a first employer
such as OCS is liable if the employee’s ultimate medical
condition arises from the “natural progression” of an injury that
7
occurred during the course of the employee’s first employment.2
Metro. Stevedore Co. v. Crescent Wharf and Warehouse Co., 339
F.3d 1102, 1105 (9th Cir. 2003).
In Strachan, this court noted both that “the aggravation
rule has been consistently applied by this Court in longshoremen
cases” and that “the aggravation rule is well-grounded in the
statutory language of the LHWCA”--specifically 33 U.S.C.
§ 903(a), which provides that “compensation shall be payable . .
. in respect of disability or death of an employee,” 33 U.S.C.
§ 902(10), which defines disability as “incapacity because of
2
The aggravation rule is often known as the “last
employer rule,” although the two terms are probably not precisely
interchangeable; rather, it may be more correct to say that the
aggravation rule is the “two-injury branch” of the last employer
rule. See Found. Constructors, Inc. v. Dir., OWCP, 950 F.2d 621,
623-24 (9th Cir. 1991) (discussing same); see also Metro.
Stevedore, 339 F.3d at 1104-05 (discussing “two-injury” cases,
“occupational disease” cases, aggravating or cumulative traumas,
and the “last responsible employer rule”).
Technical issues of nomenclature aside, it is clear that for
the second or last employer to be liable in a case such as this,
there must be evidence of additional trauma or damage that
occurred in the course of the second or last employment. As the
Fourth Circuit recently held in a case similar to the matter at
hand,
[t]he “aggravation rule” might apply . . . to a situation
where a second trauma occurs in an area first injured
during the claimant’s prior employment, but since healed
to the extent possible. In that instance, the subsequent
employer is justifiably responsible for the entire
resultant injury . . . . Here, however . . . the ALJ
found . . . there was no “second trauma”; instead, there
was simply an onset of complications from the first
trauma.
Admiralty Coatings Corp. v. Emery, 228 F.3d 513, 518 (4th Cir.
2000). Here, as in Admiralty Coatings, the ALJ’s factual finding
that Morrison’s back injury was not exacerbated by a second
trauma fully accorded with the aggravation rule.
8
injury,” and 33 U.S.C. § 908(f), which provides for payments to
employees out of the industry-financed second injury fund.
Strachan, 782 F.2d at 517. See also Louis Dreyfus Corp. v. Dir.,
OWCP, 125 F.3d 884, 887 (5th Cir. 1997) (stating that under the
LHWCA, “employers are liable for the full costs of a worker’s
disability, even if the disability is the result of both a pre-
existing impairment and a current employment injury; this is
known as the ‘aggravation rule’”).
The aggravation rule is applied in the other circuits as
well. See, e.g., Marinette Marine Corp. v. OWCP, 431 F.3d 1032,
1034 (7th Cir. 2005) (stating that under the aggravation rule, a
subsequent employer is responsible if the subsequent employment
aggravated an earlier injury, but that first employers are
responsible if an employee’s ultimate condition is attributable
to the natural progression of the earlier injury); Metro.
Stevedore, 339 F.3d at 1105 (stating that “[i]f the worker’s
ultimate disability is the result of the natural progression of
the injury and would have occurred notwithstanding a subsequent
injury, the employer of the worker on the date of the initial
injury is the responsible employer”).
The central task for appellate courts addressing petitions
for review from administrative decisions that apply the
aggravation rule is the “need to decide whether the ALJ’s
. . . finding is worthy of deference.” Marinette, 431 F.3d at
1032. This court reviews “decisions of the Board to determine
9
only whether it ‘correctly concluded that the Administrative Law
Judge’s order was supported by substantial evidence on the record
as a whole and is in accordance with law.’” Conoco, Inc. v.
Dir., OWCP, 194 F.3d 684, 687 (5th Cir. 1999) (quoting Ingalls
Shipbuilding, Inc. v. Dir., OWCP, 991 F.2d 163, 165 (5th Cir.
1993)).
Substantial evidence in this context “is that relevant
evidence--more than a scintilla but less than a preponderance--
that would cause a reasonable person to accept the fact finding.”
Dir., OWCP v. Ingalls Shipbuilding, Inc., 125 F.3d 303, 305 (5th
Cir. 1997) (citing Polanco v. City of Austin, 78 F.3d 968, 974
(5th Cir. 1996)). Because we lack “the expertise necessary to
properly evaluate the complex and frequently conflicting
testimony of neurological surgeons, orthopedists, and other
medical experts . . . . we must leave this particular fact
finding decision precisely where Congress placed it--with the
ALJ.” Ceres Marine Terminal v. Dir., OWCP, 118 F.3d 387, 391
(5th Cir. 1997). “It is fundamental that credibility
determinations and the resolution of conflicting evidence are the
prerogative of the fact finder, here the ALJ,” and the ALJ “‘is
not bound to accept the opinion of any particular medical expert;
he is entitled to weigh the medical evidence including the
relative credibility of the competing experts . . . .’” Atl.
Marine, Inc. v. Bruce, 661 F.2d 898, 900 (5th Cir. 1981)
(internal citations omitted) (quoting Hullinghorst Indus., Inc.
10
v. Carroll, 650 F.2d 750, 759 (5th Cir. 1981)). On the other
hand, statutory interpretations and other decisions of law made
by the BRB are reviewed by this court de novo. Cooper/T.Smith
Stevedoring Co. v. Liuzza, 293 F.3d 741, 744 (5th Cir. 2002)
(citing Equitable Equip. Co. v. Dir., OWCP, 191 F.3d 630, 631
(5th Cir. 1999)).
The ALJ’s decision to impose the costs of Morrison’s injury
upon OCS was supported by substantial evidence in the record,
including, but by no means limited to, the testimony of Wilson
and Gramlich. Wilson observed that the flare-ups in pain
Morrison suffered while he worked for Danos & Curole did not
necessarily indicate that Morrison’s disc was suffering further
damage while he worked for Danos & Curole. Rather, Wilson
claimed that these flare-ups of pain were manifestations of the
original physical damage that occurred while Morrison worked for
OCS. Although Wilson admitted that Morrison’s employment with
Danos & Curole might have exacerbated the damage Morrison
suffered while working for OCS, he concluded that Morrison’s
ultimate condition was wholly attributable to the natural
progression of his initial injury.3 See, e.g., Wilson Dep. 71,
3
The following exchange provides a representative example
of the evidence provided by Wilson’s deposition:
WILSON: Yeah. In my mind it all flowed, and
that’s how he ended up getting an
operation. And because of the fact that
he hurt himself, initially.
11
76, 86. Similarly, although Gramlich conceded that working for
Danos & Curole might have exacerbated Morrison’s condition, she
concluded that Morrison’s ultimate condition was wholly
attributable to the original injury Morrison suffered while he
was employed by OCS.4 See, e.g., Gramlich Dep. at 41-42, 52.
QUESTION: And it was a natural progression in your
opinion?
WILSON: Yes.
. . . .
WILSON: If the question is, Do I think he hurt
himself at the original time when he hurt
himself in October [1997]. I guess,
that’s where I thought it all occurred.
And I’ve had lots of patients do well and
then they get worse and then they do
better and then they get worse and then
they eventually need an operation. These
are all very interesting questions in
terms of like, what was the final thing
that broke the camel’s back.
QUESTION: And you just can’t say that one way or
the other, can you?
WILSON: Except for the fact that he told me that
he hurt his back at that one point in
time. And that’s where I’d say -- if I
had to draw a line, I’d say, Okay, I’m
drawing the line and the guy says he hurt
his back here. And from that point on I
met him and we did a lot of things to him
and he’s gone through a lot.
(Wilson Dep. 86, 101.)
4
The following exchange provides a representative example
of the evidence provided by Gramlich’s deposition:
GRAMLICH: My opinion is that the disk was created
by the injury, the original injury.
12
We are neither doctors nor the original fact finders in this
QUESTION: And had it not been for this, Mr.
Morrison would not have required surgery;
is that correct?
GRAMLICH: That’s correct. But again, I would refer
to Dr. Wilson for his opinion since I
don’t do surgery.
QUESTION: Based in your area of expertise, this
would be your opinion?
GRAMLICH: Yes.
. . . .
QUESTION: Let’s get this clarified. If we could
just get something clarified. When you
say symptoms are relieved, it does not
necessarily mean that the underlying
condition resolved itself satisfactorily?
GRAMLICH: Correct.
QUESTION: He may still have a bulging disk, but he
may not be experiencing a great degree of
symptomatology?
GRAMLICH: Correct.
. . . .
QUESTION: Doctor, during that preplacement
evaluation [conducted by Knijn in May
1998], Mr. Morrison reported no pain or
discomfort. Does that change your
opinion regarding whether he was able to
do those activities or whether those
activities [at Danos & Curole] caused the
related new symptomatology?
GRAMLICH: I wasn’t there with him. I still believe
the accident created a disk problem in
October of ‘97.
(Gramlich Dep. 41-42, 49, 51-52.)
13
matter, and so, under the appropriate standard of review, we need
not assess the plausibility of these medical accounts, nor do we
assess the weight they should be accorded relative to other
evidence in the record. See Pool Co. v. Cooper, 274 F.3d 173,
178 (5th Cir. 2001) (stating that “[l]ike the BRB, ‘we may not
substitute our judgment for that of the ALJ, nor reweigh or
reappraise the evidence, but may only determine whether evidence
exists to support the ALJ’s findings’”) (quoting New Thoughts
Finishing Co. v. Chilton, 118 F.3d 1028, 1030-31 (5th Cir.
1997)). Our task is more limited: we ask only whether this
evidence was relevant to the ALJ’s decision, and whether the
ALJ’s decision was reasonable based on this evidence. Ceres, 118
F.3d at 389. Wilson and Gramlich, who were ably cross-examined
by OCS’s counsel, concluded that Morrison’s ultimate disability
was the natural progression of the initial injury he suffered
while working for OCS. This evidence was directly relevant to
the ALJ’s decision, and the ALJ’s decision was reasonable in
light of this evidence; therefore, we hold that the BRB correctly
found that the ALJ’s decision was supported by substantial
evidence.
III. CONCLUSION
For the reasons stated above, the petition for review is
DENIED, and the decision of the BRB is AFFIRMED.
14