Jensen v. State, ex rel., Dep’t of Workforce Servs., Workers’ Comp. Div.

Appellant fractured his right hip when, during the course of his employment, he climbed from the bed of a dump truck and fell onto a rock. After surgery was performed on the hip, Appellant had constant pain in both hips and finally had a total hip replacement. After his hip replacement, Appellant was pigeon-toed. Appellant was later in an automobile accident that resulted in injuries. Appellant sought worker’s compensation benefits for the injuries sustained in the automobile accident, claiming that, due to his work-related hip injury, his foot was not functioning properly and slipped off the brake pedal and got stuck between the brake and gas pedals. The Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) denied Appellant’s worker’s compensation claim, finding that Appellant failed to prove a causal relationship between his automobile accident and his prior work-related accident. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) the OAH properly applied the second compensable injury rule; and (2) the OAH’s reasonably concluded that Appellant had not established by a preponderance of the evidence that his automobile accident was casually connected to his original work-related injury. View "Jensen v. State, ex rel., Dep’t of Workforce Servs., Workers' Comp. Div." on Justia Law