Lowe's Home Centers, Inc. of West Virginia v. Augustine Cortez

Summary

The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals affirmed a Workers’ Compensation Board of Review decision adding a herniated disc, intervertebral disc disorder, and retrolisthesis as compensable conditions arising from Augustine Cortez’s workplace injury. The court also upheld authorization for arthrodesis surgery to treat those conditions. The court concluded that the evidentiary record supported the findings and that no clear legal or constitutional error warranted reversal.

Holdings

1. The evidence sufficiently demonstrated that Cortez suffered a herniated disc, intervertebral disc disorder, and retrolisthesis in the course of and resulting from his employment, and that the conditions were related to the compensable injury rather than his preexisting back problems.
2. The requested arthrodesis surgery was medically related and reasonably required to treat Cortez's compensable injury.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the evidence supported adding an L2-3 herniated disc, intervertebral disc disorder, and retrolisthesis as compensable conditions resulting from Cortez's workplace injury.
2. Whether arthrodesis surgery was medically related and reasonably required to treat the compensable injury.

Disposition

affirmed