VELOCITY MARKET #5 (AS AN INSURED OF KESA - THE WORKERS' COMPENSATION FUND) v. DEBORAH HOPKINS; VELOCITY MARKET #5 (AS AN INSURED OF CENTURY WORKERS' COMPENSATION); E. MAHLIAN GRINSTEAD, ARBITRATOR; DONALD G. SMITH, ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGE; AND WORKERS' COMPENSATION BOARD
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RENDERED: February 23, 2001; 2:00 p.m.
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED
C ommonwealth O f K entucky
C ourt O f A ppeals
NO.
2000-CA-002005-WC
VELOCITY MARKET #5 (AS AN INSURED OF KESA THE WORKERS' COMPENSATION FUND)
v.
APPELLANT
PETITION FOR REVIEW OF A DECISION
OF THE WORKERS' COMPENSATION BOARD
ACTION NO. WC-98-61873
DEBORAH HOPKINS;
VELOCITY MARKET #5 (AS AN INSURED
OF CENTURY WORKERS' COMPENSATION);
E. MAHLIAN GRINSTEAD, ARBITRATOR;
DONALD G. SMITH, ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGE;
AND WORKERS’ COMPENSATION BOARD
APPELLEES
OPINION
AFFIRMING
** ** ** ** **
BEFORE:
DYCHE, GUIDUGLI, AND SCHRODER, JUDGES.
SCHRODER, JUDGE:
This is a petition for review from a decision
of the Workers’ Compensation Board (the “Board”) reversing and
remanding a determination by the Administrative Law Judge (the
“ALJ”) that the claimant’s disability manifestation date for
carpel tunnel syndrome did not occur until the diagnosis was
confirmed through nerve conduction studies.
We agree with the
Board that diagnosis through nerve conduction studies is not a
prerequisite for manifestation of a disability.
Hence, we
affirm.
Claimant, Deborah Hopkins, worked for Velocity Market
#5 (“Velocity Market”) from 1995 to September 15, 1998.
In 1997,
she began to experience numbness and tingling in her hands.
In
August 1997, she saw her family practitioner, Dr. James Coleman
who, without conducting any specialized testing, examined Hopkins
and diagnosed her as suffering from carpel tunnel syndrome.
Hopkins advised her supervisor of the diagnosis but continued to
work until September 14, 1998.
On July 22, 1998, Hopkins saw Dr.
Rao Vempaty, an internist, who performed nerve conduction studies
on July 31, 1998 which revealed that she had carpel tunnel
syndrome.
The issue before this Court is whether the date of
injury was in August of 1997, when Velocity Market was insured by
KESA, or in July of 1998, when Velocity Market was insured by
Century Workers’ Compensation (“Century”).
The ALJ found that the cumulative trauma injury
manifested into disabling reality under Randall Co. v. Pendland,
Ky. App., 770 S.W.2d 687 (1989) in July of 1998 because, although
the claimant’s symptoms began in 1997, she “had not undergone
diagnostic testing to confirm a diagnosis of carpel tunnel
syndrome until July 1998.”
The Board ruled that pursuant to
Alcan Foil Products v. Huff, Ky., 2 S.W.3d 96 (1999) and Special
Fund v. Clark, Ky., 998 S.W.2d 487 (1999), by requiring that
specialized testing confirm a diagnosis of carpel tunnel
syndrome, the ALJ improperly found that the date of manifestation
of disability was the date of occupational disability rather than
-2-
the date the claimant first became aware she was suffering from a
work-related injury.
We agree with the Board’s determination
that a confirmation of a diagnosis of carpel tunnel syndrome
through specialized testing is not required before the injury can
be considered manifest.
Here, there was evidence that Hopkins
first became aware she was suffering from carpel tunnel syndrome
in 1997.
Accordingly, we affirm.
ALL CONCUR.
BRIEF FOR APPELLANT:
BRIEF FOR APPELLEE, VELOCITY
MARKET #5 (AS INSURED BY
CENTURY WORKERS’ COMPENSATION:
W. Barry Lewis
Hazard, Kentucky
Ronald J. Pohl
Lexington, Kentucky
-3-
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