Iowa Workers' Compensation

Claimant suffered an injury to her shoulder, which the employer denied.  In Saracevic v. Tyson Fresh Meats, Inc. , No. 16-0104 (Iowa App. Oct. 26, 2016), the Court of Appeals concluded that it was the agency's job to weigh the evidence.  The agency concluded that the shoulder injury was not related to claimant's work, and the Court of Appeals affirmed on substantial evidence grounds. Claimant sought treatment with Dr. Delbridge following the denial of liability.  He performed surgery to remove a calcium deposit from claimant's left shoulder.  He later opined that the shoulder condition had been materially aggravated by claimant's work.  Dr. Gorsche and Dr. Neff opined that the calcific deposit was not related to her job duties. Concluding that the determination of whether to accept or reject an expert's testimony was within the peculiar province of the commissioner, the court affirmed the decision of the agency that claimant's injury had not arisen out of an...

Stark Construction v. Lauterwasser , No. 15-1786 (Iowa App. 2016) is a claim that had earlier been decided by the Court of Appeals.  In the earlier decision, the appellate court reversed the district court's opinion that claimant was not an employee and remanded the case to the district court for further proceedings.  On remand, the district court remanded the claim to the commissioner for issuance of a decision on a timely notice issue.  Claimant appealed the remand order, arguing that the employer failed to preserve error at the agency level for judicial review.  The employer argued that claimant's appeal was untimely because claimant filed an improper 1.904(2) order to toll the time for filing notice of appeal. The court first addressed the issue of the timeliness of claimant's appeal.  In this case, the appeal was filed beyond 30 days, but it was filed within 30 days of the district court's ruling on the 1.904(2) motion.  The court finds that a proper...