In Jacqueline Wise v. LIRC (2017AP2191), the Court of Appeals District II overturned an LIRC decision denying worker’s compensation for procedures related to the patient’s pre-existing condition.

Jacqueline Wise slipped and fell on ice in the parking lot of her workplace, causing pain in her hips that prevented her from working at the caregiving facility. Wise attempted to return to work at several points, but the pain persisted. Eventually, she underwent a left hip replacement. The subsequent pressure on her right hip after the surgery led to her undergoing a right hip replacement as well. The pressure on her lower back from the left and right hip replacements caused further pain, which required more treatments. Wise filed a worker’s compensation claim.

The Labor and Industry Review Commission (LIRC) determined that Wise’s fall at work temporarily aggravated pre-existing avascular necrosis and awarded reimbursements for treatment of the initial injury. However, LIRC said the temporary aggravation was resolved before Wise underwent hip replacement surgery, so the commission denied permanent disability compensation and compensation for her subsequent procedures.

The appeals court overturned LIRC’s decision, ordering the lower court to appropriate compensation to Wise for both her initial injury and subsequent surgeries. The court said LIRC’s decision was not “supported by credible and substantial evidence” (Wis. Stat. § 102.23(6)) because it relied on a report that the court determined misinterpreted the record.

In a dissent, Judge Brian Hagedorn (who is running for state Supreme Court) criticized the majority for substituting its own judgment regarding the reliability of the supposedly misinterpreted report for LIRC’s. While he might have agreed with the facts pointed out by the majority, Hagedorn agued that it is not the court’s place to reweigh the facts LIRC used to support its decision, according to Wis. Stat. § 102.23(6).