Hintz v. Farmers Co-op Assn., 297 Neb. 903

Background

On Nov. 13, 2014, Ian T. Hintz, a tire technician employed by Farmers Cooperative Association, was injured when a semitrailer tire exploded; he was thrown ~10 feet and had back, groin, hip, and right-leg symptoms but returned to work the following Monday.
Hintz did not seek immediate medical care after the November incident; coworkers and payroll records showed he performed duties without notable restriction in the ensuing weeks.
On Dec. 4, 2014, Hintz tripped on stairs at home, hit his hip, and thereafter sought treatment; MRI revealed a significant right labral tear, and Dr. Justin Harris performed arthroscopic repair on Feb. 25, 2015.
Medical opinions conflicted: Harris (surgeon) suggested a high-energy work event likely caused the labral tear; Drs. Gallentine and Bozarth (defense reviewer) concluded causation was uncertain or more likely attributable to the stair fall; Bozarth reviewed records and opined the workplace injury resolved before the home fall.
The Workers’ Compensation Court found Hintz’s work injury resolved within 3 days and that the surgical hip injury resulted from the home fall; the Court of Appeals reversed and remanded, giving weight to Harris’s surgical observations; the Nebraska Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals and affirmed the Workers’ Compensation Court.

Issues

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (Hintz)	Defendant's Argument (Farmers)	Held
Whether Hintz’s later hip injury was caused by the Nov. 13 work accident	The labral tear and subsequent disability were caused (or aggravated) by the workplace tire explosion	The workplace injury resolved within days; the Dec. 4 stair fall caused the symptomatic right hip injury requiring surgery	The compensation court’s finding that the workplace injury resolved and the home fall caused the surgical injury is supported by competent evidence and is not clearly erroneous
Whether expert opinions based on record review (Bozarth) constitute competent medical evidence	Harris’s surgical findings are the best evidence of causation	A reviewing physician may rely on medical records; such opinions are competent and triers of fact may weigh them	Bozarth’s record-review opinion was competent; the trier of fact properly weighed conflicting expert testimony
Standard of review on appeal from Workers’ Compensation Court	N/A (appellant challenged factual causation)	Appellate courts must defer to compensation court factual findings and not reweigh evidence	Appellate court (Court of Appeals) erred by reweighing credibility and substituting its judgment for the compensation court
Application of liberal construction of the Workers’ Compensation Act	Claimant urged liberality in interpreting causation in claimant’s favor	Farmers argued that statutory liberal construction does not permit reweighing of evidence contrary to the trier of fact	Court reaffirmed that liberal construction does not override the clear-error standard or permit appellate reappraisal of factual credibility

Key Cases Cited

Nichols v. Fairway Bldg. Prods., 294 Neb. 657, 884 N.W.2d 124 (2016) (standard for appellate review of Workers’ Compensation Court findings)
Hull v. Aetna Ins. Co., 247 Neb. 713, 529 N.W.2d 783 (1995) (medical causation requirement when injury not plainly apparent)
Hynes v. Good Samaritan Hosp., 291 Neb. 757, 869 N.W.2d 78 (2015) (physician reliance on others’ tests and examinations is acceptable for diagnosis)
Owen v. American Hydraulics, 258 Neb. 881, 606 N.W.2d 470 (2000) (deference to compensation court where record shows conflicting medical testimony)
Mathes v. City of Omaha, 254 Neb. 269, 576 N.W.2d 181 (1998) (competent evidence defined as admissible and relevant evidence tending to establish issue)
Hohnstein v. W.C. Frank, 237 Neb. 974, 468 N.W.2d 597 (1991) (expert competency where subject is beyond ordinary experience)
State v. Earl, 252 Neb. 127, 560 N.W.2d 491 (1997) (trial court’s role in determining competency of witnesses)