ARKANSAS COURT OF APPEALS

NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION

JOHN MAUZY PITTMAN, JUDGE

DIVISION III

BRENDA COGBURN (McGEE)

APPELLANT

V.

OK FOODS, INC.

APPELLEE

CA00-1162

May 23, 2001

APPEAL FROM THE ARKANSAS WORKERS' COMPENSATION COMMISSION

[NO. E214628]

AFFIRMED

The appellant in this workers' compensation case sustained a work-related knee injury in 1992. Since then she has had three separate arthroscopic procedures in which her medial meniscus has been inspected and been found to be intact by the operating physicians. She was then examined by a new physician, Dr. James Mulhollan, who proposed further arthroscopic surgery to explore for a tear in her medial meniscus. The Commission, assuming without deciding that appellant did in fact have a torn medial meniscus, refused to authorize treatment. It reasoned that, if appellant did have such a tear, it was not related to her 1992 injury because her medial meniscus had been inspected three times since then, the latest inspection being three years after the original compensable injury, and no tear had been discovered. This appeal followed.

For reversal, appellant contends that the Commission's decision is contrary to the weight of the evidence and therefore is not supported by substantial evidence. We do not agree. Matters of weight and credibility are within the sole province of the Workers' Compensation Commission. Coxv. Klipsch & Associates, 71 Ark. App. 433, 30 S.W.3d 764 (2000). The question on appeal is not where the preponderance of the evidence lies, but is whether the Commission's opinion is supported by substantial evidence. Hooks v. Gaylord Container Corp., 67 Ark. App. 159, 992 S.W.2d 844 (1999). In cases such as the present one, where the Commission has denied a claim because of the claimant's failure to meet his burden of proof, the substantial evidence standard of review requires that we affirm if the Commission's opinion displays a substantial basis for the denial of relief. Maxwell v. Carl Bierbaum, Inc., 48 Ark. App. 159, 893 S.W.2d 346 (1995). Here, considerable medical evidence indicated that appellant had no torn medial meniscus for three years after her work-related injury. Unquestionably, the Commission's opinion is supported by substantial evidence.

Affirmed.

Stroud, C.J., and Roaf, J., agree.