All Decisions

The Commission modified the administrative law judge's award regarding the Second Injury Fund's liability for permanent total disability benefits, affirming that the employee is permanently and totally disabled but changing the commencement date of benefits. The employee, a delivery driver injured in a 2009 workplace fall, was entitled to permanent total disability benefits based on the combination of his primary work injury and preexisting disabling conditions affecting multiple body parts.

The Labor and Industrial Relations Commission affirmed the Administrative Law Judge's award allowing workers' compensation benefits for James Morris, who sustained injuries to his lumbar spine and right knee in an accident on January 14, 2007. The Commission awarded permanent partial disability compensation totaling $25,689.30, including benefits for lumbar spine and right knee injuries combined with preexisting permanent disabilities.

The Commission affirmed the administrative law judge's award of workers' compensation to Paul Brown for heat exhaustion injuries sustained while working as a general manager at a Domino's Pizza location on July 8, 2012. The claimant was awarded $44,707.90 in compensation for past medical expenses and 35 weeks of permanent partial disability benefits representing 8.75% of the body as a whole.

The Labor and Industrial Relations Commission affirmed the Administrative Law Judge's award allowing workers' compensation benefits to James Morris for injuries sustained in a motor vehicle accident on January 3, 2007, while traveling to a company store in Lebanon, Missouri. The claimant was found to have sustained permanent partial disability affecting multiple body parts, with the injury arising out of and in the course of employment.

The Commission reversed the administrative law judge's decision and awarded workers' compensation to Rhonda Clark for a fractured right rib sustained while stirring dairy curds at work on June 20, 2011. The Court found that employee's work activity of leaning against and pushing/pulling on a shovel against a vat was the prevailing factor in causing the rib fracture, and that her subsequent medical treatment for the underlying condition (Langerhans cell histiocytosis) flowed from the work injury.

The Commission affirmed the Administrative Law Judge's award of workers' compensation benefits to Edward Palmer for a knee and back injury sustained on August 19, 2011, when he fell on his left knee while walking out of a fire scene. Palmer was awarded permanent total disability benefits of $811.73 weekly for life, along with ongoing medical care coverage.

The Missouri LIRC reversed the administrative law judge's decision and awarded compensation to the estate of William Franken for cancer causally related to occupational exposure to beryllium and radiation during his employment as an electronic fabricator and senior analyst. The Commission found that the statute of limitations claim was inapplicable and that the employee's occupational disease was causally connected to his work at the nuclear weapons manufacturing facility.

The Missouri Court of Appeals reversed the Commission's statute of limitations dismissal, finding that the claim was not barred. The LIRC subsequently reversed the administrative law judge's denial of compensation following the Court's mandate, allowing the employee's workers' compensation claim for an amputation injury sustained during employment in Texas.

The Labor and Industrial Relations Commission affirmed the Administrative Law Judge's award finding that the employee contracted compensable bilateral plantar fasciitis as an occupational disease from working on concrete floors. The employer was ordered to provide necessary medical treatment and pay temporary total disability compensation of $15,012.71.

The Missouri LIRC affirmed the administrative law judge's Final Award on Medical Fee Dispute requiring the employer/insurer to pay $5,600.00 to health care provider Elliott Curran for medical services provided to employee Trampas Crain. The decision corrected three clerical errors in the original award but upheld its findings and conclusions regarding authorization and medical necessity of the disputed services.

The Labor and Industrial Relations Commission affirmed the administrative law judge's temporary or partial award of workers' compensation benefits for an employee who slipped on a ramp and twisted his left knee while unloading cars. The Commission found the award was supported by competent and substantial evidence and made in accordance with Missouri Workers' Compensation Law.

The Commission affirmed the Administrative Law Judge's award allowing workers' compensation benefits for Robert Kant's injuries to his low back and left knee sustained on February 17, 2006, when he tripped over a wire placed across a doorway. The employee was determined to have permanent total disability with the Second Injury Fund liable for ongoing weekly benefits.

The Commission reversed the administrative law judge's decision and awarded workers' compensation benefits, finding that the employee's occupational exposure to aerosolized toxic chemicals in the boiler room was the prevailing factor in causing his cardiac arrest on November 4, 2012. The employee, who had prior cardiac conditions from histoplasmosis-related fibrosing mediastinitis, suffered cardiac arrest after working two days in the contaminated boiler room at ConAgra's food processing facility.

The Commission affirmed the administrative law judge's award of workers' compensation benefits to Gracie Stevenson for a cervical spine injury sustained on June 18, 2004 when she tripped on debris while standing in a pickup truck bed. The claimant was awarded 40% permanent partial disability of the body as a whole, totaling $55,528.00 in compensation.

The Labor and Industrial Relations Commission affirmed the administrative law judge's award allowing compensation for a worker's neck injury sustained on August 15, 2006, while straining with a cheater wrench to change a frozen propane valve. The Commission awarded past medical expenses from the employer, finding that the employee's need for medical treatment flowed from the work-related accident, despite determining that no permanent disability resulted from the temporary increase in neck pain.

The Labor and Industrial Relations Commission affirmed the Administrative Law Judge's award denying workers' compensation benefits to employee Gracie Stevenson for a high blood pressure condition that occurred while digging at work on June 15, 2005. The Commission found no compensable injury or occupational disease under Missouri law despite confirming an accident occurred and the claim was timely filed.

The Commission affirmed the administrative law judge's award of permanent total disability benefits to Linda Head for a left knee injury sustained when she slipped and fell on ice while leaving a hospital after a work meeting on February 7, 2003. The employer was ordered to pay weekly permanent total disability benefits of $641.06 per week for the claimant's lifetime and provide future medical benefits related to the work-related injury.

The Commission affirmed the Administrative Law Judge's award denying compensation in a workers' compensation case involving an employee who fell on ice melt on January 31, 2008. Although the injury was found to be compensable and work-related, no benefits were awarded and the claim against the employer was denied in full.

The Missouri LIRC reversed the administrative law judge's award of 15% permanent partial disability and permanent total disability benefits for an employee's compensable work-related left knee injury. The Commission found that the employee's personal physician testified the total disability resulted from preexisting back dysfunction rather than the work-related knee injury, and that pay stubs did not substantiate the assigned rate.

The Supreme Court of Missouri reversed the Commission's initial denial, and the Commission issued this final award allowing workers' compensation benefits for a corrections officer who suffered a hypertensive crisis after performing an inmate takedown on August 12, 2011. The employee's sole claim was for unpaid past medical expenses related to the hypertensive crisis hospitalization, with no claim for permanent partial disability.

The Commission modified the administrative law judge's award regarding the nature and extent of permanent disability and Second Injury Fund liability, while supplementing the award on medical causation. The case involved a June 15, 2005 motor vehicle accident with competing expert medical testimony regarding spine injuries and permanent total disability.

The Commission affirmed the administrative law judge's award of workers' compensation benefits to Doris Hazelrigg for injuries sustained when she fell from a ladder while retrieving shoes at her workplace on March 2, 2013. The Second Injury Fund was liable for 9.8 weeks of permanent partial disability compensation at $360.00 per week, totaling $3,528.00, for thoracic and lumbar spine and rib fractures representing 16.5% permanent disability.

The Commission reversed the administrative law judge's award finding that the employee sustained a compensable work-related right knee injury from a September 15, 2014 accident while operating a forklift. The Commission determined there was insufficient evidence that the injury occurred in the course and scope of employment, particularly given the employee's preexisting knee instability and prior history of buckling and popping.

The Commission modified the administrative law judge's award regarding the nature and extent of disability in a lumbar spine injury case. The employee sustained a work-related acute disk herniation at L5-S1 on August 28, 2006, with the Commission finding 50% permanent partial disability and addressing disputed issues of permanent total disability and Second Injury Fund liability.

The Missouri LIRC affirmed the administrative law judge's award allowing compensation and future medical treatment for Billy Davis's work injury from November 26, 2011. The Commission found that future medical care is appropriate because the claimant need only prove that treatment flows from the work injury, and there is a reasonable probability of future medical needs based on the employee's increased medication use and medical expert recommendations for additional procedures.