Court of Appeals Affirms Award of Healing Period Benefits in Going and Coming Rule Case

Carroll Area Nursing Services v. Malloy, No. 18-2126 (Iowa App. July 24, 2019) involved the operation of the going and coming rule and resulted in the award of healing period benefits by the commissioner.  The employer appealed and the Court of Appeals affirms the award of benefits.

Claimant was a visiting nurse.  On the date of her work accident, she had left her car at her mother's house to attend a personal medical appointment.  Claimant's mother drove claimant to her appointment and on the way back from the appointment, claimant was asked to see a patient of hers.  She returned to her house, changed into her work clothes and as she was heading to the patient's house, was involved in a head-on collision.  At hearing, claimant was found entitled to a running award of healing period benefits.  The agency cited the personal vehicle exception to the going and coming rule.  The agency also found there was no personal deviation at the time of the accident.

The Court noted that an exception to the going and coming rule occurred where an injured worker where the employee was required to provide his or her own vehicle for a part of the day. The court cited several decisions in support and reached the conclusion that substantial evidence supported the conclusion that claimant came within the personal vehicle exception and thus was within the scope of her employment when she was injured.  The court also found that claimant had not deviated from her employment at the time of the accident, notwithstanding the fact that the route from her mother's home was slightly longer than a direct route from her house. The fact that claimant was going to her patient's house was sufficient to assure that there was no deviation. The court concluded that this finding was supported by substantial evidence. 


Comments

  1. Baker and Harris Law OfficeJuly 31, 2019 at 1:34 AM


    I Have Read Your Post This is very nice and informative blog . Thank you for sharing such like of information. Contact Baker & Harris Law Firm for workers compensation attorney in Idaho! We can help you receive the worker’s compensation benefits to which you are legally entitled.

    ReplyDelete
  2. OFFERSeptember 2, 2019 at 10:05 PM

    Invest with 200$ and get a returns of 5,000$ within seven business working days.Why wasting your precious time online looking for a loan? When there is an opportunity for you to invest with 200$ and get a returns of 5,000$ within seven business working days. Contact us now for more information if interested on how you can earn big with just little amount. This is all about investing into Crude Oil and Gas Business.

    Email: investmoneyoilgasfast@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Court of Appeals Affirms Denial of Workers' Compensation Benefits; Rules on Credit Issue

Thomas v. Archer Daniels Midland Company , No. 23-0323 (Iowa App. Nov. 8, 2023) Claimant initial suffered a compensable injury to his right eye in 2017.  He subsequently sustained several injuries in 2018 while stepping off a pontoon boat, which he attributed to a lack of depth perception as a result of his eye issues.  The deputy ruled in favor of claimant, but the commissioner reversed, finding that the 2018 injuries were not a sequelae of the original eye injuries.   The Court of Appeals concluded that the decision of the commissioner was supported by substantial evidence and affirmed the decision of the commissioner.  The Court noted that medical causation was a question of fact vested in the commissioner's discretion and noted that although claiant speculated that his fall was caused by his right eye injuries, claimant could not specifically recall what happened and there were no witnesses to provide context.  The speculation of medical experts that vision loss caused the fall
Read more

2021 Workers' Compensation Appeal Decisions

  2021 Workers' Compensation Appeals Decisions The following are appeal decisions decided by the commissioner in 2021, by month. December 2021 Carmer v. Nordstrom , No. 1656062.01 (App. Dec. 29, 2021) - Claimant was found to have sustained an injury to her right shoulder and a sequela injury to her left shoulder.  Both of these injuries were found to be scheduled member injuries, but the injuries were found to be industrially compensable under 85.34(2)(v). Claimant was found to have a 70% industrial disability (Palmer). On appeal, the commissioner affirms that there was a sequela injury to the left shoulder, crediting Dr. Segal's report over that of Dr. Milani.  Most importantly, the commissioner affirms the fact that because the two shoulder injuries were the result of a single incident, this injury was to be treated industrially under 85.34(2)(v).  The commissioner notes that "shoulder" injuries were not added to the list of injuries that were to be treated a schedu
Read more

2024 Workers' Compensation Appeal Decisions

  2024 Workers' Compensation Appeal Decisions May 2024  Roth v. General Millls, Inc. , No. 1657652.01 (App. May 3, 2024) - Claimant was found to have sustained an injury to the shoulder, but the injury was found not to have extended to the body. Claimant was found eligible for 24 weeks of permanency benefits.  Unauthorized medical care received by claimant was denied (Phillips). On appeal the commissioner affirmed the decision of the deputy without additional analysis. 4 months from arbitration to appeal decision. April 2024 Poe v. Capital Express, Inc. and SIF , No. 22004117.01 (App. April 30, 2024) - In this action, claimant was found to have sustained a 6% injury to the leg and was awarded healing period benefits from April 4, 2022 through August 21, 2002.  A 50% penalty was awarded on all accrued weekly benefits for an unreasonable delay in payment without conveying the reason for the delay (Walsh).  Fund benefits were also awarded, but were not a part of the appeal.  The emplo
Read more