This appeal arises pursuant to the Texas Workers’ Compensation Act, TEX. LAB. CODE ANN. § 401.001 et seq. (1989 Act). A contested case hearing was held on April 4, 2003. With respect to the issues before her, the hearing officer determined that the respondent (claimant) sustained a compensable injury on _____________, and that she had disability from August 19, 2002, through the date of the hearing. In its appeal, the appellant (self-insured) argues that the hearing officer’s determinations are against the great weight of the evidence. The appeal file does not contain a response to the self-insured’s appeal from the claimant.
DECISION
Affirmed.
The hearing officer did not err in determining that the claimant sustained a compensable injury on _____________. That issue presented a question of fact for the hearing officer to resolve. The hearing officer is the sole judge of the weight and credibility of the evidence. Section 410.165(a). As the trier of fact, the hearing officer resolves the conflicts and inconsistencies in the evidence and decides what facts the evidence has established. Texas Employers Ins. Ass’n v. Campos, 666 S.W.2d 286 (Tex. App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 1984, no writ). The hearing officer was persuaded that the claimant sustained her burden of proving that she injured her low back lifting a box at work. The factors emphasized by the self-insured in challenging the hearing officer’s injury determination on appeal are the same factors it emphasized at the hearing. The significance of those factors, if any, was a matter for the hearing officer in making her credibility determinations. Nothing in our review of the record reveals that the challenged determination is so against the great weight and preponderance of the evidence as to be clearly wrong or manifestly unjust. Accordingly, no sound basis exists for us to reverse the injury determination on appeal. Cain v. Bain, 709 S.W.2d 175 (Tex. 1986).
The success of the self-insured’s argument that the claimant did not have disability is dependent upon the success of its argument that the claimant did not sustain a compensable injury. Given our affirmance of the injury determination, we likewise affirm the determination that the claimant had disability, as a result of her compensable injury, from August 19, 2002, through the date of the hearing.
The hearing officer’s decision and order are affirmed.
The true corporate name of the insurance carrier is, a self-insured governmental entity and the name and address of its registered agent for service of process is
SUPERINTENDENT
(ADDRESS)
(CITY), TEXAS (ZIP CODE).
Elaine M. Chaney
CONCUR:
Thomas A. Knapp – Appeals Judge
Robert W. Potts – Appeals Judge