***NOT FOR
PUBLICATION***
NO.
23585
IN
THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF HAWAI`I
SURVIVORS
OF SANDRA H. CHING, DECEASED, Claimant-Appellant,
vs.
STATE
OF HAWAI`I, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH,
Employer-Appellee, Self-Insured.
APPEAL FROM THE LABOR AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS APPEALS BOARD
(CASE NO. AB 96-440)
SUMMARY DISPOSITION ORDER
(By: Moon, C.J., Levinson, Nakayama, Acoba, and Duffy JJ.)
The claimants-appellants Survivors of Sandra H. Ching, deceased (the
"Survivors"),
appeal from the June 16, 2000 decision and order of the Labor and
Industrial
Relations Appeals Board (LIRAB), reversing the decision of the Director
of Labor
and Industrial Relations (the "Director"), dated July 2, 1996, which, inter alia,
ordered the employer-appellee State of Hawai`i, Department of Health
(the "DOH"),
to reimburse the Survivors as follows: (1) the sum of $23,695.69,
because the DOH
was allegedly credited twice for the foregoing amount as reimbursement
of its
workers' compensation lien on third-party settlement proceeds, pursuant
to Hawai`i
Revised Statutes (HRS) § 386-8 (1993); and (2) the sum of
$2,423.11 for unpaid
out-of-pocket medical expenses owed to the Survivors. On
appeal, the Survivors
contend that the LIRAB erred in failing to rule as follows: (1) that,
as a matter of law, the DOH bore the burden of proof,
including the burden of producing evidence and the burden of
persuasion; (2) that
the Survivors are entitled to reimbursement of medical expenses paid by
the
Survivors in the amount of $2,423.11; and (3) that the Survivors are
entitled to
reimbursement in the amount of $23,695.69 for mistaken double payment
of the DOH's
workers' compensation lien on third-party settlement proceeds. In
response, the
DOH argues (1) that, based on the record on appeal, the findings of
fact (FOFs)
issued by the LIRAB in the June 16, 2000 decision and order were not
clearly
erroneous, and (2) that the LIRAB's conclusions of law (COLs) were
correct.
Upon carefully
reviewing the record and the briefs submitted by the parties and
having given due consideration to the arguments advanced and the issues
raised, we
affirm the LIRAB's June 16, 2000 decision and order.
The Survivors have
not shown that their "substantial rights . . . have been
prejudiced" by the LIRAB's FOFs or COLs. Flor v. Holguin, 94 Hawai`i
70, 76, 9
P.3d 382, 388 (2000). In particular, in light of the
record, including the
testimony adduced at the hearing before the LIRAB, the FOFs were not
"clearly
erroneous in view of the reliable, probative, and substantial evidence
on the
whole record," and the COLs did not violate "constitutional or
statutory
provisions," did not exceed "the statutory authority or jurisdiction of
the
agency," and were not "affected by other error of law." Id. Therefore,
IT IS HEREBY
ORDERED that the LIRAB's June 16, 2000 decision and order is
affirmed.
DATED: Honolulu,
Hawai`i, March 18, 2004.
On the briefs:
Stephen T. Hioki,
for the
claimant-appellant
Survivors of
Sandra H. Ching,
deceased
Kathleen N.A.
Watanabe, Deputy
Attorney General
(DAG),
and Steve K.
Miyasaka, DAG
for
employer-appellee
State of Hawai`i,
Department of
Health,
self-insured