Court of Appeals Affirms Denial of Permanency, Penalty Benefits

The Court of Appeals, in Hecht v. Highline Construction, Inc., No. 18-2017 (Iowa App. Sept. 11, 2019), affirmed the commissioner's denial of permanency benefits as well as the denial of penalty benefits.

The original arbitration decision had awarded claimant a 30% industrial award based on hearing loss and tinnitus.  Claimant testified that when working at a job as a driver after working for Hecht, he had a difficult time driving because of the tinnitus and hearing loss and left that job.  Following the hearing, defendants sought to introduce three additional exhibits, which demonstrated that claimant left Hecht because of unacceptable performance and left his subsequent job because he was asked to conduct illegal DOT inspections.  The deputy granted a motion to admit this evidence.  The commissioner affirmed this finding and based on this evidence, found that claimant was not credible and reversed the 30% award.  

On appeal, claimant argues that under rule 4.28, a request to provide additional evidence must be filed within 20 days of appeal.  The court notes, however, that the commissioner may modify the time to comply for good cause under rule 2.1. Because of this, the court finds the commissioner did not abuse his discretion in allowing the additional evidence (defendants' excuse for filing late included an extended illness and the death of counsel's mother).  The court found this was an exceptional circumstance justifying the late filing of the post-hearing exhibits. Accordingly, the commissioner was found to be within his rights in extending the 20 day deadline of rule 4.28 and the commissioner's decision was affirmed.