All Decisions

The Commission reversed the administrative law judge's decision and awarded workers' compensation benefits to Donald Elliott for a low back injury that occurred on July 13, 2005, while working as a stonemason. The employee had a prior low back injury from 1996 with a herniated L5-S1 disc, but the Commission found his subsequent injury arose out of and in the course of his employment.

The Commission affirmed the administrative law judge's award allowing workers' compensation for Warren Cotner (deceased), whose surviving spouse Ruth Cotner was substituted as claimant. The employee suffered a compensable injury by accident arising out of and in the course of employment when he stumbled and fell while checking an air compressor in a shuttle van he was driving for the employer.

The Commission affirmed the administrative law judge's award allowing workers' compensation benefits to the widow of Richard Campbell, a small business owner who died in a single-car accident while traveling for work on April 11, 2011. The dissenting opinion argued the claim should be reversed, contending that the employee's death resulted from an unexplained accident rather than a work-related cause, though the majority found the evidence supported compensability.

The Commission modified the Administrative Law Judge's award regarding Second Injury Fund liability for an employee who sustained a work-related accident in September 2007 resulting in 26% permanent partial disability, with a preexisting 25% permanent partial disability to the low back. The decision addresses whether the Second Injury Fund is liable for permanent total disability benefits in addition to permanent partial disability benefits.

The Labor and Industrial Relations Commission affirmed the Administrative Law Judge's award denying compensation in this workers' compensation case, despite finding the injury from a five-foot fall off a ladder to be compensable under Missouri law. The case involved a truck driver who sustained neck and psychiatric injuries on November 5, 2009, but no benefits were awarded as the matter was settled.

The Commission affirmed the administrative law judge's denial of Second Injury Fund benefits for Jeremy Reynolds, who suffered a left ankle sprain while working at Fulton State Hospital. The employee failed to present credible evidence of synergistic interaction between the primary ankle injury and his preexisting conditions affecting his groin, left ankle, and right knee.

The Labor and Industrial Relations Commission affirmed the Administrative Law Judge's award denying enhanced permanent partial disability benefits from the Second Injury Fund. The employee reinjured his left ankle at work but failed to establish the requisite synergistic interaction between the primary injury and multiple preexisting conditions necessary for Second Injury Fund liability.

The Commission affirmed the administrative law judge's denial of Second Injury Fund benefits for an employee who sustained a left wrist sprain injury at work. The employee failed to present credible evidence of synergistic interaction between the primary left wrist injury and preexisting conditions affecting his groin, left ankle, and right knee.

The Missouri LIRC modified the Administrative Law Judge's award in a workers' compensation case involving Richard Ambrozetes's right ankle sprain injury. The Commission affirmed findings on medical causation, liability, and permanent partial disability (20%), but modified the award regarding past medical expenses.

The Commission affirmed the administrative law judge's award allowing workers' compensation benefits to Huston Pointer for a left shoulder injury sustained on May 17, 2010, when he fell from a ladder while shoveling lime. The employee was awarded 20% permanent partial disability of the left shoulder, 15% permanent partial disability of the body as a whole, and was deemed permanently and totally disabled due to the injury combined with preexisting disabilities.

The Labor and Industrial Relations Commission modified the administrative law judge's award regarding medical fees for an employee's October 22, 2013 left knee surgery, affirming the additional reimbursement of $1,090.90 to the health care provider while finding certain factual findings of the ALJ erroneous. The Commission determined that the medical charges billed by Rockhill Orthopaedic Specialists for the work-related knee injury and surgery were fair and reasonable.

The Labor and Industrial Relations Commission modified the administrative law judge's award regarding Second Injury Fund liability for a worker injured in a fall on December 20, 2004. The Commission found the employee suffered a compensable accident but reversed the lower finding that the Second Injury Fund was not liable for permanent total disability benefits.

The Commission affirmed the Administrative Law Judge's denial of workers' compensation benefits for a left wrist injury sustained while wringing out a wet cleaning rag, finding the employee failed to prove the injury arose out of employment under Missouri's causal connection test. The Court determined that wringing out a wet rag involves ordinary risks to which the employee would be equally exposed in normal nonemployment life and was merely a triggering factor rather than the prevailing cause of injury.

The Labor and Industrial Relations Commission affirmed the administrative law judge's award allowing workers' compensation benefits to Robert Rickerson for a work-related injury, finding the award supported by competent and substantial evidence. The Commission denied the employee's request for costs under § 287.560 RSMo but confirmed that the employer must provide awarded future medical treatment or face liability for costs if the employee obtains care independently.

The Labor and Industrial Relations Commission affirmed the administrative law judge's denial of workers' compensation benefits for Betty Shackleford's claimed aggravation of preexisting degenerative disc disease from a September 15, 2010 accident. The denial was upheld because the employee's expert medical opinion relied upon a description of the accident that was not supported by the record as a whole, making the opinion fatally lacking in persuasive force.

The Missouri LIRC modified the administrative law judge's award regarding temporary total disability benefits from June 28, 2012, to May 21, 2013, and the doubling of such benefits under § 287.510 RSMo. The Commission affirmed liability for past medical bills, temporary total disability benefits, and permanent partial disability benefits while addressing employer's arguments regarding jurisdiction, medical causation, and offset claims from a concurrent Texas workers' compensation proceeding.

The Labor and Industrial Relations Commission affirmed the administrative law judge's award of compensation for employee Harold Leon Crawford's workplace injury from February 5, 1999. The Commission adopted the ALJ's findings and conclusions while dismissing employer's evidentiary objections and determining that a subsequent motor vehicle accident resulted in no new compensable injury.

The Labor and Industrial Relations Commission modified the administrative law judge's award regarding Second Injury Fund liability, disagreeing that statutory requirements for occupational hearing loss claims apply to determining preexisting hearing loss in Second Injury Fund calculations. The Commission found that the employee's significant hearing deficits since childhood constitute preexisting disability relevant to calculating the synergistic effect with his primary injury for Second Injury Fund liability purposes.

The Labor and Industrial Relations Commission affirmed the Administrative Law Judge's award denying all workers' compensation benefits in a claim for heat exhaustion allegedly sustained on June 4, 2011. The Commission found that while the injury was occupational in nature and properly reported, it did not arise out of and in the course of employment, and therefore no compensation was awarded.

The Commission modified the administrative law judge's award regarding Second Injury Fund liability in a case involving an employee's compensable occupational disease injury of bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome and bilateral trigger fingers arising from work activities. The employee was awarded permanent partial disability benefits for right wrist (15%) and left wrist (5%), with the Commission affirming the ALJ's findings that the employee failed to prove permanent total disability despite preexisting conditions.

The Commission modified the administrative law judge's award regarding medical causation and Second Injury Fund liability for an employee struck in the head by a basketball thrown by an inmate. While affirming that no primary psychiatric injury was caused by the accident, the Commission found a causal connection between the work injury and subsequent deterioration in the employee's preexisting psychiatric condition.

The Missouri Labor and Industrial Relations Commission affirmed the Administrative Law Judge's award of workers' compensation benefits to Kent Buerk for neck and back injuries sustained on February 13, 2009, while carrying a 65-pound windshield across a muddy surface at work. The employee was awarded permanent total disability compensation along with unpaid medical expenses and temporary total disability benefits.

The Missouri Court of Appeals reversed the administrative law judge's denial of workers' compensation benefits, holding that the employee's injuries from a 20-25 foot fall from a railcar arose out of and in the course of employment. The LIRC awarded permanent partial disability benefits from the Second Injury Fund based on a prior settlement valuing the injuries at approximately 15% of the upper right extremity and 13% of the body as a whole for cervical and thoracic spine injuries.

The Commission affirmed the Administrative Law Judge's award of workers' compensation benefits to Keith Jackson for a low back injury sustained while moving a steel channel beam on November 21, 2012. The award includes 30 weeks of permanent partial disability compensation from the employer and permanent total disability benefits from the Second Injury Fund.

The Commission affirmed the administrative law judge's award of workers' compensation benefits to employee Judy West for injuries sustained in a fall at work on January 31, 2014. The decision clarifies that the employee's injuries were sustained both "arising out of" and "in the course of" her employment as a home care worker, satisfying Missouri's workers' compensation requirements.