Preexisting Injuries and Utah Worker’s Compensation Injuries
Utah, unlike some other states such as Tennessee, will consider an injured worker’s preexisting injuries in determining whether to award benefits in a worker’s compensation case. The Utah Supreme Court held in 1986 that “[t]hus, where the claimant suffers from a preexisting condition which contributes to the injury, an unusual or extraordinary exertion is required to prove legal causation. Where there is no preexisting condition, a usual or ordinary exertion is sufficient.” ( Allen v. Industrial Com’n, 729 P. 2d 15, 26 (Utah 1986)).
Our courts in Utah have struggled with this “extraordinary exertion” test. In a litany of decisions, there is hardly a consensus between what is and is not an extraordinary exertion. In one case, lifting a 53 pound cylinder met the test, while a 50 pound garbage can was not. (Compare Hall v. Staker & Parsons and/or Library Mutual, Case No. 04-1073 (February 28, 2006) vs. Merrill v. Icon Health & Fitness and/or WCF, Case No. 00.0003 (December 31, 2002)).
The consensus seems to be whether the accident “exceeds the typical activities and exertions of normal, everyday life for most people.” (Lameman v. Gerber Construction, Inc. and/or Zurich American, Case No. 09.0853 (June 7, 2011)
There are however, areas of Utah law which protect workers which have had repetitious injuries on-the-job with the same employer. The Crosland case here in Utah defined a”‘permanent impairment'” to exclude asymptomatic conditions such as his and to include only conditions “‘[connoting] some deterioration or diminishment in function.'” This definition comports with the use of the word “permanent impairment” at the beginning of amended section 35-1-66, stating, with our emphasis, that an employee who receives a “‘permanent impairment as a result of an industrial accident… may receive a permanent partial disability award. Crosland v. Board of Review, 828 P. 2d 528, 531 (Utah 1992).
Essentially then, if an injured worker in Utah suffers from a pre-existing condition in Utah that is asymptomatic, that individual may receive worker’s compensation benefits without having those benefits apportioned or denied.
