![]() Subsequently, Baker appealed to the Arkansas Court of Appeals. The full Commission affirmed and adopted the administrative law judge's opinion. ![]() On June 30, 1997, an administrative law judge determined that the Arkansas Workers' Compensation Commission lacked jurisdiction over Baker's claim and denied and dismissed the action. Following the denial of additional benefits, Baker sought workers' compensation benefits in Arkansas. However, on August 26, 1996, Conwell denied Baker's request for extended benefits and informed her that further medical treatment would require her health-insurance carrier's approval. FFE, via Conwell, paid Baker $6,636.57 in indemnity benefits and $20,145.32 in medical benefits. Texas provides employers an alternative to workers' compensation payments, and FFE provided Baker's benefits through such a plan, the Conwell Voluntary Employee Benefit Plan. Following the accident, Baker notified FFE, and a wrecker took her and her truck back to Texas, where she received medical care, indemnity, and medical benefits through August 23, 1996. However, she acknowledged that FFE maintained no supervisory personnel at the drop yard. Baker recalled that she was in Arkansas making a delivery, but could not remember where, and that FFE had a drop yard, full of empty and loaded trailers, somewhere in Arkansas. Pay stubs, offered into evidence, indicated that FFE paid Baker's salary through its payroll account in Dallas, Texas, the location of the company's headquarters.Īt the time of the accident, Baker was taking a DOT mandated eight-hour break when another truck, attempting to park, hit her truck. Baker estimated that four FFE drivers were stopped at the West Memphis fuel stop at one time. ![]() Baker testified that FFE had other trucks on the road in Arkansas and that FFE designated a specific fuel stop, not owned by FFE, in West Memphis, Arkansas. During her employment with FFE, Baker drove through Arkansas approximately twice a week from March until June. According to Baker, FFE had approximately five hundred drivers traveling across the United States and Canada. ![]() We find no merit in appellant's arguments, and we affirm.įFE hired Baker in Atlanta, Georgia, in March of 1995, to work as an over-the-road truck driver throughout the forty-eight contiguous states and Canada. ![]() Baker also contends that the Commission erred in finding that FFE rebutted the statutory presumption of jurisdiction. Baker filed her claim against FFE seeking benefits as a result of a June 24, 1995, injury that occurred at a truck stop in Earle, Arkansas. Eric Newkirk, West Memphis, for appellee.Īppellant, Maudie Baker, an Alabama resident, challenges the Arkansas Workers' Compensation Commission's determination that it lacked jurisdiction to hear her claim against the appellee, Frozen Food Express Transport (“FFE”), a Texas Company. ![]()
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