CHARLESTON — The West Virginia Intermediate Court of Appeals agreed with the rejection of a Wayne County Board of Education employee's workers' compensation claim, finding it non-compensable.
Deborah Evans was employed by the Wayne County Board of Education as an autism mentor and was injured while at work on April 6, 2021, according to the decision filed Jan. 10 in the Intermediate Court of Appeals.
Evans claims she was assisting a student preparing to leave school and she bent over to pick the student up and felt a sharp pain in her lower back.
"Ms. Evans initially believed that she had pulled something in her lower back, but the pain worsened and began radiating down her left leg after she went home for the day," the decision states. "She presented to the emergency room at Three Rivers Medical Center the same day and was given a pain injection and advised that she had pulled muscles in her back."
Evans returned to the emergency room on April 7, 2021, when her pain worsened and she was again advised that she had pulled muscles in her back.
The ER provider recommended physical therapy for six weeks and she was diagnosed with a strain of muscle, fascia, and tendon of her left hip, according to the decision.
On April 11, 2021, Evans went to Cabell Huntington Hospital and she was diagnosed with a degenerative disc disease of the lumbar region, sciatica and a strain of the lumbar region. She underwent a CT scan on May 13, 2021, which indicated degenerative changes.
Evans' workers' compensation claim was denied on May 19, 2021, after the claims administrator concluded she did not sustain an injury at work and she protested the order. She testified on Oct. 5, 2021, that she had not had any pre-existing back issues.
"Ms. Evans also agreed with the statement that she did not get hurt at work, rather, she realized she was injured later in the day," the decision states. "Ms. Evans admitted that she did not say anything about her injury while at work and did not believe that her co-workers would have known that she was injured."
However, Evans' medical records found that she had suffered from pre-existing chronic back problems and leg pain and on March 4, 2022, the Office of Judges' affirmed the claims administrator's decision.
"After review, we conclude that the OOJ, as affirmed by the Board, did not err in finding that Ms. Evans’ contradictory statements regarding her alleged injury were troubling," the judges found. "In her October 5, 2021, deposition Ms. Evans testified that she had sustained a back injury fifteen years prior, but she denied having any ongoing back problems. However, Ms. Evans’ medical records indicate that she has had extensive ongoing problems with back and leg pain."
The OOJ was not wrong in their determination that Evans' credibility is “diluted” by her contradictory testimony, the judges wrote.
"Finding no error in the Board’s order affirming the claim administrator’s order rejecting Ms. Evans’ workers’ compensation claim as noncompensable, we affirm," the decision stated.
West Virginia Intermediate Court of Appeals case number: 22-ICA-48