Pederson v. State ex rel. Wyoming Workers' Compensation Div

In Pederson v. State ex rel. Wyoming Workers' Compensation Div., 939 P.2d 740, 742 (Wyo. 1997), Della Pederson, a seventeen-year employee of the Sheridan County School District, testified that she injured her foot when her ankle "snapped" while moving a loaded mixing bowl. Pederson did not state in her accident report that her ankle snapped, nor did she mention it to the podiatrist she saw the next day. Id. at 741-42. The podiatrist diagnosed Pederson as having a progressive foot condition related to her diabetes, and Pederson had seen the podiatrist for symptoms in the same foot three days prior to the claimed accident. Id. Pederson also had been treated two years before the claimed accident for foot problems, and had fallen on the same foot the previous spring. Id. The hearing examiner found that, despite her testimony, Pederson did not suffer any "snap" or trauma to her foot at work. Id. at 742. On appeal, Pederson argued that no evidence was presented to show that she suffered an injury other than at work. The Court concluded that Pederson's "failure to tell her doctor about the claimed injury and her failure to set it forth on her Report of Injury, both events occurring within days of the claimed incident, provided a rational basis for the hearing officer to disbelieve her later testimony." Id.