CLAIM NO. E502226
Before the Arkansas Workers’ Compensation Commission
ORDER FILED MAY 16, 2001
Upon review before the FULL COMMISSION in Little Rock, Pulaski County, Arkansas.
Claimant represented by HONORABLE FLOYD M. THOMAS, JR., Attorney at Law, El Dorado, Arkansas, and HONORABLE BILL F. JENNINGS, Attorney at Law, Magnolia, Arkansas.
Respondents represented by HONORABLE CAROL LOCKARD WORLEY, Attorney at Law, Little Rock, Arkansas.
ORDER
This matter comes before the Full Commission on the claimant’s motion for clarification of our remand order filed on November 16, 2000. As the claimant interprets our November 16, 2000 remand order, the remand was for a complete hearing on all factual issues, and for the Administrative Law Judge to then issue a new opinion on all pertinent legal and factual issues in the case with appropriate citations to the record and to the law.
By way of clarification, our November 16, 2000 remand order makes no mention of any new hearings, nor did we intend that the Administrative Law Judge to conduct any new hearings. In this regard, a hearing in this case was held before Administrative Law Judge Max Koonce on March 14, 2000. When Judge Koonce left the Commission, the Chief Administrative Law Judge advised the parties that, unless either party specifically requested another hearing before a different Administrative Law Judge, the issues previously presented will be submitted upon the existing record. Attorney Worley by letter dated May 8, 2000 agreed that no new hearing was required and that a different Administrative Law Judge should be allowed to consider this matter on the existing record. Attorney Thomas indicated his complete agreement with Attorney Worley in a letter dated May 9, 2000.
With regard to our November 16, 2000 remand as it relates to the record in this case, we noted that certain medical reports referred to in the Administrative Law Judge’s decision could not be identified and did not appear to have been incorporated into the hearing transcript. Likewise, we noted that the respondents quoted discussions of the claimant’s attorney at a hearing in Circuit Court, and that we could not locate the Circuit Court hearing transcript in the record. As regards the record in this case, we remanded to permit the parties and the Administrative Law Judge to specifically identify these documents in the Commission file which are to be included in the record. Based on the plain instructions of our November 16, 2000 remand order, and in light of the prior agreement of the parties to have this case decided without a new hearing, we find that the contentions in the claimant’s motion for clarification is without merit.
We remand this case to the Administrative Law Judge for additional proceedings.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
______________________________ ELDON F. COFFMAN, Chairman
______________________________ MIKE WILSON, Commissioner
______________________________ SHELBY W. TURNER, Commissioner