Supreme Court Holding Denies Cumulative Injury Alleged in Review Reopening Action Following Initial Acute Injury
As presented by the Supreme Court in Gumm v. Easter Seal Society of Iowa, Inc. , No. 18-1051 (Iowa May 1, 2020), the issue before the court was "whether a workers' compensation claimant who receives disability benefits for a traumatic injury can later recover disability benefits on a separate disability claim if the cumulative injury is based solely on aggravation of the earlier traumatic injury." The court unanimously concluded that Ms. Gumm could not recover. Claimant initially suffered a fracture of her right ankle, for which she was paid WC benefits following surgery. The last payment of benefits for the injury was on May 10, 2010. Claimant continued to suffer from right ankle pain and in January of 2012 returned to the treating physician. The physician believed that this could have been from a coincidence or from compensating for her right ankle pain. On April 11, 2012, she underwent another surgery, returning to full-duty work on May 3. Cla...