CLAIM NO. E703502
LINDA G. SINCLAIR, EMPLOYEE, CLAIMANT v. MAGNOLIA HOSPITAL, EMPLOYER, RESPONDENT, SEDGWICK JAMES OF ARKANSAS, INC., THIRD PARTY ADMINISTRATOR, RESPONDENT Before the Arkansas Workers’ Compensation Commission
OPINION FILED DECEMBER 22, 1998
Upon review before the FULL COMMISSION in Little Rock, Pulaski County, Arkansas.
Claimant appears Pro Se.
Respondents represented by the HONORABLE MIKE ROBERTS, Attorney at Law, Little Rock, Arkansas.
Decision of Administrative Law Judge: Vacated and remanded.
[1] OPINION AND ORDER
[2] This matter comes before the Full Commission on the claimant’s appeal of the administrative law judge’s August 13, 1998 order of dismissal with prejudice.
[3] The action ultimately taken by the administrative law judge arose out of a motion to dismiss for want of prosecution filed by the respondents’ attorney on June 29, 1998. In that motion, the respondents’ attorney asserts that the claimant filed a “claim” by a form AR-N on February 28, 1997, that was filed with the Commission. In his brief in support of that motion, the respondents’ attorney asserts that this “claim” should be dismissed pursuant to Ark. Code Ann. §
11-9-702(a)(4) because the claimant had not requested a hearing within six months of filing her claim in this matter. [4] Initially, we note that no record was developed by the parties or the administrative law judge prior to the administrative law judge’s filing of an order of dismissal in this case. Consequently, we are vacating the administrative law judge’s decision and remanding this case to the administrative law judge to develop an appropriate record. [5] However, we also note in passing that, after reviewing the file in this case, we are at a loss to understand the actions taken by the respondents’ attorney or by the administrative law judge in this case. In this regard, we note first of all that there is no Form AR-N in this file, as the respondents’ attorney asserts. Furthermore, even if the claimant or the respondent had mailed a Form AR-N to the Commission, a Form AR-N is a notice of injury not a claim forcompensation. Likewise, the document in the file which was signed by the claimant on February 28, 1997, appears to have been a Form AR-1 (First Report of Injury or Illness), presumably filed with the Commission by the respondent not theclaimant. [6] In short, we cannot find any documents in the file which even remotely suggest to us that the claimant filed a claim for compensation (typically a Form AR-C), within the meaning of Ark. Code Ann. §
11-9-702(a)(4), by any document signed on February 28, 1997. Consequently, since we cannot find any evidence that the claimant ever filed a claim for compensation by any document signed on February 28, 1997, we are at a loss to understand why the respondents’ attorney filed a motion to dismiss a claim that, as far as we can tell, had never been filed. Likewise, we are at a loss to understand how the administrative law judge could require the claimant to file a Pre-Hearing Questionnaire, and later to dismiss this case with prejudice, when no claim was ever filed. [7] Likewise, we note that, although the administrative law judge rejected the claimant’s Pre-Hearing Questionnaire filing as untimely and then dismissed her claim with prejudice, the file contains a letter from the claimant indicating that she contacted the administrative law judge’s office and received a timely extension of time to file her Pre-Hearing Questionnaire. We note that the administrative law judge’s dismissal order does not address the extension of time to file that the claimant asserts that she obtained. [8] For the reasons discussed herein, we find that the administrative law judge’s August 13, 1998 dismissal order should be vacated and this case remanded to the administrative law judge to settle the record and to make new findings of fact and conclusions of law which address the issues cited herein. [9] IT IS SO ORDERED.
ELDON F. COFFMAN, Chairman PAT WEST HUMPHREY, Commissioner
[10] Commissioner Wilson dissents.