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Brewer v. Tectum Holdings, Inc., 2025 S.D. 23, 20 N.W.3d 433, concerned an appeal of denied medical and disability benefits. The South Dakota Supreme Court affirmed the Department’s finding that a claimant was not permanently and totally disabled but overturned the Department’s findings on causation. This case demonstrates the Court’s willingness to thoroughly review medical records, and assign its own weight to those medical records, in determining causation.
In September 2015, Joshua Brewer (“Brewer”) suffered a back injury while working for Truxedo, a bed manufacturer (“Work Injury”). He did not immediately feel pain but stated his pain intensified in the months thereafter. In December 2015, Brewer quit working for Truxedo claiming he could no longer work due to his pain.
Employer and Insurer paid for Brewer’s medical care related to the Work Injury until May 2016, when Dr. Douglas Martin performed an IME of Brewer and concluded the Work Injury was not a major contributing cause of Brewer’s back pain. Dr. Martin stated the Work Injury was “probably best described as a strain episode” but that it did not explain Brewer’s symptoms. Brewer then brought a Petition for Hearing seeking medical benefits for his Work Injury and claiming he was permanently and totally disabled.
At the hearing on his Petition, Brewer offered his medical records and the deposition testimony of his treating provider, Dr. Corey Rothrock. Dr. Rothrock opined that Brewer’s back pain originated from his sacroiliac (“SI”) joint and that the Work Injury was a major contributing cause of that pain. In opposition to the Petition, Employer and Insurer relied on the IME of Dr. Martin and a second IME of Dr. Wade Jensen. Like Dr. Martin, Dr. Jensen opined that the Work Injury likely caused a muscle strain, but that muscle strain had resolved and was no longer major contributing cause of Brewer’s symptoms.
On de novo review, the Court held that the Work Injury was a major contributing cause of Brewer’s back pain. In doing so, it relied heavily on Dr. Rothrock’s deposition testimony and Dr. Rothrock’s status as a treating provider, stating “the opinions of a treating physician may, in some cases, be more persuasive than those of a non-treating physician because of the knowledge gained through the claimant's treatment and more generally through treatment of the specific ailment that the claimant suffers.” Brewer, 2025 S.D. 23, ¶ 60, 20 N.W.3d at 447–48. The Court also found Dr. Jensen’s opinion less persuasive than Dr. Rothrock’s opinion because, in the Court’s view, Dr. Jensen gave inordinate weight to Brewer’s pre-Work Injury medical records.
Notably, in this case, the Court did not solely rely on Dr. Rothrock’s opinion to reverse the lower courts’ findings on causation. The Court also relied on its own opinion of the significance of a claimant’s medical records in determining that the testimony of Dr. Jensen, Employer’s and Insurer’s expert, was lacking. Employers should be aware that the South Dakota Supreme Court may take a liberal view of its role in evaluating medical records, as it did in this case.