Clark v. State ex rel. Wyoming Workers' Safety and Compensation Division

Summary

The Wyoming Supreme Court affirmed the denial of workers’ compensation benefits for Henry Clark’s claimed back injury. The court held that substantial evidence supported the hearing examiner’s findings that Clark was not credible, that his back condition was pre-existing, and that he failed to prove a compensable material aggravation caused by the workplace accident. The court declined to reweigh the evidence or disturb the agency’s credibility determination.

Holdings

1. The hearing examiner reasonably disbelieved Clark's testimony that he fell backward onto his back because the account was omitted from his contemporaneous accident report and was not corroborated by his early medical records.
2. Clark failed to prove that his claimed back injury arose out of and in the course of his employment because the evidence supporting causation depended on an account of the accident that the hearing examiner reasonably found not credible.
3. The hearing examiner's decision was supported by substantial evidence and was not arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise contrary to law.

Questions Presented

1. Whether substantial evidence and applicable law supported the hearing examiner's finding that Clark's back condition was preexisting and that the work incident did not materially aggravate it into a compensable new injury.

Disposition

affirmed