Filtered Decisions

The Commission affirmed the Administrative Law Judge's award of permanent total disability benefits for an employee who slipped and fell, injuring his lower back on December 28, 2007. The Second Injury Fund was found liable for permanent total disability compensation with an average weekly wage of $3,000.00.

The Commission affirmed the Administrative Law Judge's award of workers' compensation benefits to Ray Taylor for a left eye injury sustained on November 3, 2006, when he was struck by a piece of wood while using a sledge hammer. The employee was awarded $8,959.86 for permanent partial disability (30% of left eye) plus indeterminate ongoing medical benefits.

The Labor and Industrial Relations Commission affirmed the Administrative Law Judge's award of workers' compensation benefits to Michael Heisler for occupational diseases (right carpal tunnel and bilateral cubital tunnel syndrome) developed through repetitive work duties. The employee was awarded permanent partial disability benefits totaling 92 weeks, along with temporary disability compensation and medical aid previously paid by the employer.

The Commission affirmed the Administrative Law Judge's award allowing workers' compensation benefits for Bonnie Tinker's right carpal tunnel syndrome, which developed from repetitive use of vibratory and pneumatic tools at Hussmann Corporation. The award included permanent partial disability benefits, temporary disability compensation, medical aid, and permanent total disability benefits from the Second Injury Fund.

The Missouri LIRC modified the administrative law judge's award, affirming that the employee is permanently and totally disabled due to combined primary occupational disease injuries to the low back and shoulder areas plus preexisting conditions, with the Second Injury Fund liable for permanent total disability benefits. The Commission corrected clerical errors in the injury number designations but maintained the substantive analysis and liability determination regarding the Second Injury Fund's obligation.

The Commission affirmed the Administrative Law Judge's decision denying the employee's claim for past temporary total disability benefits from February 4 to March 25, 2004, despite finding the ALJ's reasoning required supplementation. The employee's shoulder and neck injury claim was supported by medical evidence, but the denial of TTD benefits was upheld as the employer's refusal to allow return to work was not deemed grounds for compensation during the disputed period.

The Labor and Industrial Relations Commission affirmed the administrative law judge's award granting permanent total disability benefits to truck driver Victor Richardson for injuries sustained in a motor vehicle accident on September 28, 2005. The employee is entitled to weekly permanent total disability benefits of $696.97 for the remainder of his life, plus ongoing necessary medical treatment related to the accident.

The Commission affirmed the Administrative Law Judge's award allowing workers' compensation benefits to Violet Lawrence for a low back injury sustained on March 27, 2008, while employed at Modine Manufacturing in Camdenton, Missouri. The claimant was awarded medical expenses, temporary disability, and permanent partial disability compensation totaling $157,322.71 plus future medical requirements.

The LIRC modified the ALJ's award, clarifying that while the employer waived its right to select medical providers for the specific treatment the employee requested and the employer refused, the employer retains its right to direct and select medical providers for all future medical care. The Commission affirmed the ALJ's allowance of future medical care and approved the attorney's fee as fair and reasonable.

The Commission modified the ALJ's amended award, finding that while the employee was entitled to select his own medical provider for specific treatment that the employer refused to provide, the employer retains the right to control selection of medical providers for all other future medical care. The decision clarifies that an employer's refusal to provide noticed treatment does not constitute a waiver of its general right to direct medical provider selection going forward.

The Commission modified the ALJ's amended award regarding medical provider selection in Glen Nickelson's workers' compensation case. The Commission affirmed the award of future medical care but clarified that the employer retains the right to select medical providers going forward, except for the specific treatment that was previously refused.

The Commission modified the ALJ's decision by affirming the award of future medical care but finding that the employer did not waive its right to select the employee's medical providers for future treatment. The employer retains the right to direct the selection of medical providers going forward, except for the specific treatment that was initially refused, which the employee may pursue independently.

The Commission affirmed the Administrative Law Judge's award of 12.5% permanent partial disability for a lumbar spine injury, finding the ALJ properly considered the evidence and did not substitute his own opinion for expert testimony. The employee's claim for permanent total disability benefits against the Second Injury Fund was denied because she failed to prove her inability to compete in the open labor market was solely due to the primary injury combined with preexisting disabilities, as the vocational expert's opinion improperly considered subsequent injuries occurring after the primary injury date.

The Labor and Industrial Relations Commission modified the administrative law judge's decision to award reasonable costs of recovery to the employee under § 287.203 RSMo, finding that the employee was the prevailing party when the judge granted her request for ankle surgery and temporary total disability benefits. The Commission rejected the employer's argument that the employee did not prevail merely because the judge deferred ruling on one issue to the final award.

The Commission affirmed the administrative law judge's decision denying workers' compensation benefits to Steven Polkinghorne for a back injury sustained on March 1, 2007, while working on a retention pond. The majority found the ALJ's award supported by competent evidence, though a dissenting opinion argued the work activities were the prevailing factor in causing the employee's lumbar disc herniations.

The Commission modified the Administrative Law Judge's award, finding the Second Injury Fund liable for permanent partial disability benefits by correctly applying the 50-week threshold to all of the employee's preexisting conditions rather than evaluating them in isolation. The Commission affirmed that the employee was not permanently and totally disabled but increased the award by including preexisting depression and applying a 15% multiplicity factor for bilateral wrist disability.

The Commission modified the ALJ's award, finding the Second Injury Fund liable for 10.775 weeks of permanent partial disability benefits instead of 6.4 weeks. The Commission corrected the application of statutory thresholds by considering all of the employee's preexisting disabling conditions in aggregate rather than in isolation, including preexisting ankle and wrist conditions totaling 74.75 weeks.

The Labor and Industrial Relations Commission affirmed the administrative law judge's denial of workers' compensation benefits, finding that the employee failed to prove he sustained a compensable primary injury. The employee's claim was rejected because he could not identify a specific traumatic event or unusual strain with objective symptoms, only a gradual worsening of his overall physical condition.

The Commission affirmed the administrative law judge's denial of the employee's claims for permanent total disability and permanent partial disability benefits from the Second Injury Fund. The Commission found the employee was not permanently and totally disabled based on credible vocational evidence showing available jobs within his physical restrictions, and determined the Second Injury Fund was not liable for benefits.

The Labor and Industrial Relations Commission modified the Administrative Law Judge's temporary award, agreeing that the employee's February 27, 2011 injury was compensable and affirming the award of future medical care. However, the Commission reversed the finding that the insurer should pay employer and employee's reasonable attorney fees and expenses, determining the insurer's defense was not egregious or without reasonable grounds.

The Commission affirmed the Administrative Law Judge's decision denying workers' compensation benefits for Stephen Smith, a deceased lab technician and phlebotomist who worked with blood and bodily fluids from 1969 to 2006. The claim was denied on the finding that the employee did not sustain an accident or occupational disease arising out of and in the course of his employment.

The Commission affirmed the administrative law judge's award denying the employee's claim for total knee replacement expenses, finding that the work injury did not reasonably require the replacement as the need flowed from pre-existing arthritic changes rather than the workplace injury. While correcting the administrative law judge's misapplication of legal standards, the Commission reached the same conclusion that the total knee replacement was not reasonably required to cure and relieve from the effects of the work injury.

The Commission modified the administrative law judge's award, finding that the employee sustained a work-related back injury in January 2006 with 20% permanent partial disability, and that an intervening injury in June 2006 broke the chain of medical causation for additional compensation. The Commission rejected the ALJ's unsupported finding of preexisting disability and determined medical causation based on credibility findings favoring employer's medical experts over employee's experts.

The Missouri LIRC affirmed the administrative law judge's award of workers' compensation benefits to Robert L. Treadway for a work-related injury sustained on May 8, 2008, while also approving the attorney's fee as fair and reasonable. The case involved analysis of Second Injury Fund liability in relation to the employee's preexisting disabilities.