Hoututl Waaaking v. Wal-Mart Associates, Inc. (Decision 26-05)- where it is within the province of the ALJ to accept or reject witness and medical testimony, the ALJ did not err by accepting the conclusions of Dr. Curtis that the employee’s spinal pars defect was a preexisting condition and the work injury was a myofascial strain which resolved within months, over the opinion of the employee’s family doctor who opined the pars defect was fractured by the heavy lifting the employee performed on his first day of work. Further, the ALJ did not err in denying a sec. 218 reinstatement requests where the family physician stated the employee’s unrelated mental health condition might prevent the employee from ever returning to work for Wal-Mart.
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