A Fort Dodge woman who was critically injured at work more than a decade ago received a big win from the Iowa Supreme Court last week.

The Supreme Court affirmed lower courts’ rulings that the Iowa Municipalities Workers’ Compensation Association erred in dismissing her petition to reopen her case and have her condition reviewed to determine if she is permanently disabled because of the incident.

According to the ruling, filed Friday, in April 2012, Alevia Green was working at the recycling center of the North Central Iowa Regional Solid Waste Authority “when she was struck from behind by a large door that swung open on a recycling dumpster.”

The blow knocked her “out cold for several minutes,” and she was taken by ambulance to UnityPoint Health — Trinity Regional Medical Center.

At the hospital, Green complained of headaches and upper back pain, and a CT scan showed focal hemorrhages in the frontal lobes of her brain. After being transferred to another hospital in Des Moines, she was diagnosed with “traumatic cerebral intraparenchymal hemorrhage,” or bleeding in the brain, and a concussion.

Green stayed in the hospital for observation for two days and received temporary disability benefits for a little over three months. The NCIRSWA stipulated that her injury was caused by the incident with the door swinging open.

Green returned to work in August 2012, but continued to suffer from migraine headaches, so in December of that year she filed a petition for workers’ compensation for a permanent disability. At an arbitration hearing in 2014, a deputy workers’ compensation commissioner determined that Green didn’t prove that her injury caused permanent impairment. She appealed the decision, and the workers’ compensation commissioner affirmed the ruling.

Green further appealed to the District Court, which in May 2017, affirmed the commission’s prior rulings — except for some reimbursements for past medical expenses from the weeks after Green’s injury.

In June 2018, Green filed a new petition with the workers’ compensation commission, seeking to have an updated review of her injuries and determination of whether her condition has worsened and entitled her to additional support.

The NCISWA motioned for a summary judgment, arguing that Green can’t relitigate an issue that has already been presented and decided against her.

Green replied, arguing that the statutory right to review a case allows for situations where a condition worsens or a temporary disability becomes permanent.

The deputy commissioner — and later commissioner — sided with the NCISWA, and Green again asked for judicial review from the District Court.

The District Court reversed the commission’s decision, agreeing that Green’s request for an update review is allowed because there is the question of whether Green’s temporary injury had developed into a permanent disability. The NCIRSWA appealed, and the Iowa Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court’s ruling.

Following the Appeals Court ruling, the NCIRSWA requested a further review from the Iowa Supreme Court, which accepted the case and issued its ruling on April 14.

The Supreme Court ruled that the workers’ compensation “statute expressly provides for reopening under specified conditions — such as worsening of the worker’s disability.”

The commission’s 2014 determination that Green hadn’t proven her injury was permanent does not preclude her from later petitioning to have her case reopened and her condition reviewed, the Supreme Court ruled.

The ruling affirms the lower courts’ rulings and remands the case back to the workers’ compensation commission to reopen the case and review Green’s current condition.

“Solid Waste Authority suggests that Green will be unable to show any change in her condition attributable to the work incident to warrant a change in benefits,” the Supreme Court’s ruling reads. “Yet that question, whatever its answer, isn’t before us. Green will have the opportunity to present evidence about whether her current condition warrants an increase in compensation. A dispute of material fact on that subject remains.”

During this case, Green was represented by Fort Dodge attorney Jerry Schnurr.

“We’re happy with the decision of the Supreme Court and we look forward to presenting our case to the workers’ compensation commissioner,” Schnurr told The Messenger.