Iowa Workers' Compensation

In Keeran v. Quaker Oats Co., No. 17-1525 (Iowa App. Sept. 12, 2018), claimant argued that the agency had used an incorrect standard of law in determining whether claimant had suffered knee injuries as a result of her work at Quaker Oats.  The Court of Appeals rejected this argument and an associated argument that the findings of the commissioner were not supported by substantial evidence.  The take nothing opinion of the commissioner was affirmed. The court indicates that to prove an injury arose out of employment, claimant must establish a causal connection between the employment and the injury.  Claimant must also demonstrate that the injury is the proximate cause of the disability.  To do this, a cause must be found to be "substantial."  Citing Ayers v. D & N Fence Co., 731 N.W.2d 11, 17 (Iowa 2007)..  To demonstrate an aggravation, the injury must not have coincidentally happened at work, but must be caused by or related to the working environ...

In Archer Daniels Midland v. Warren , No. 14-0956 (Iowa App. April 22, 2015), the court affirmed an agency decision finding permanent total disability.  The court rejected defendants' claim that claimant's plan to retire, which were made before the injury occurred, precluded an award of permanent total disability. Claimant had a severe, preexisting injury to his right hip.  Despite this, claimant was able to work steadily from 1969, when the injury occurred, through 2001, when he began to work for ADM.  His health at that time was said to be excellent and he was under no restrictions.  Claimant began to suffer pain in his hip and went to his doctor  in January of 2009.  He was treated symptomatically for over a year and the possibility of a total hip arthroplasty was discussed in September of 2010.  The total hip replacement was conducted on February 22, 2011.  Claimant returned to work but was told that his restrictions could not be accommodate...

In Plumrose USA v. Hathaway , No. 13-0495 (Iowa App. Jan. 23, 2014), claimant suffered an injury to his right knee when he fell down a flight of stairs, cause a medial meniscal tear and patella tendon tear.  Claimant had a past history of knee injuries, including three surgeries.  He had been told that he would need knee replacement surgery at some point in the future.  Following the accident, conservative care was initially provided, but ultimately a total knee replacement was recommended. Defendants denied the claim, based on a doctor's report that there was no way of knowing when a TKR would have been needed.  This same doctor later indicated that the TKR was directly related to claimant's acute exacerbation of his chronic knee arthritis, and opined that there was a 50% impairment to the leg.  The arbitration and appeal decisions concluded that the knee injury was compensable, and ordered payment of temporary and permanency benefits. Before the court, the...