Alice A. Bartlett

The Labor and Industrial Relations Commission modified the Administrative Law Judge's award of permanent total disability benefits by removing a 15% enhancement under § 287.120.4 RSMo that was inapplicable to claims against the Second Injury Fund, reducing the compensation rate from the enhanced amount to $233.00 per week. The Commission affirmed all other aspects of the administrative law judge's decision and approved the attorney's fee as fair and reasonable.

The Commission reversed the ALJ's temporary or partial award that found the employee sustained a compensable work injury to his lower back on December 1, 2008, while unloading a truck. The Commission determined that medical causation evidence did not support the finding that the work incident was the prevailing factor in causing the employee's lower back condition, given his extensive prior back injury history including a previous fusion.

The Labor and Industrial Relations Commission affirmed the administrative law judge's award allowing workers' compensation for Jacob Hahne's left knee injury sustained on February 13, 2004, while working for the employer. The Commission substituted its own analysis on the issue of medical causation while affirming the overall award, rejecting the employee's arguments that the administrative law judge's medical causation findings were in error.

The Labor and Industrial Relations Commission affirmed the Administrative Law Judge's corrected award granting workers' compensation benefits to Todd Grauberger for a back injury sustained while moving furniture on November 19, 2001. The injury was found to be compensable, and the employee was awarded permanent total disability benefits with temporary disability compensation of $44,294.52 paid to date.

The Commission affirmed the Administrative Law Judge's award of workers' compensation benefits to Raymond Nichols for a shoulder injury sustained on May 29, 2009, while shifting gears in his truck. The claimant was awarded 5% permanent partial disability to the right shoulder, totaling $4,330.63 in compensation.

The Commission affirmed the administrative law judge's award of workers' compensation benefits for Roger Patton's work-related left arm injury sustained while unloading timbers from a delivery truck on April 4, 2005, which resulted in a bicep tendon rupture. The award granted 30% permanent partial disability of the left arm at the elbow level, though a dissenting opinion argued for a finding of permanent total disability based on the severity and ongoing debilitating nature of the injury.

The Commission reversed the administrative law judge's decision and awarded permanent partial disability benefits, finding the employee sustained a 30% permanent partial disability of the body as a whole from her primary back injury and recognizing her preexisting cardiac condition as contributing to her overall disability. The decision rejected the ALJ's dismissal of Dr. Cohen's medical opinion regarding the employee's cardiac disability and found the Second Injury Fund liable for benefits.

The Labor and Industrial Relations Commission modified the administrative law judge's award, finding that the judge improperly excluded the employee's preexisting social phobia disorder from Second Injury Fund liability calculations. The Commission corrected the analysis of Second Injury Fund thresholds and determined that preexisting disabilities must be considered collectively rather than in isolation when determining fund liability.

The Labor and Industrial Relations Commission affirmed the administrative law judge's award allowing workers' compensation benefits for Vernon Jordon's work-related back injury sustained in a fall from his truck on April 2, 2002. The Commission found the award was supported by competent and substantial evidence and made in accordance with Missouri Workers' Compensation Law.

The Missouri LIRC affirmed the ALJ's award finding the employee permanently and totally disabled when considering the combined effects of a work injury and preexisting cardiac condition, but only partially disabled when excluding the cardiac worsening. The decision clarified credibility determinations regarding medical testimony about permanent total disability and remanded issues of non-medical factors in the denial of total permanent disability benefits.

The Labor and Industrial Relations Commission modified the ALJ's award regarding Second Injury Fund liability in a case involving a worker with a primary lumbar spine injury from a July 25, 2005 workplace accident. The Commission affirmed that the employee sustained a compensable work injury and is permanently and totally disabled, but modified the extent of Second Injury Fund liability based on whether the disability resulted from the primary injury alone or in combination with preexisting conditions.

The Commission affirmed the administrative law judge's award denying compensation, finding that the employee failed to prove he sustained an accident or occupational disease arising out of and in the course of his employment. The employee's claim for a 2005 left shoulder injury was rejected despite testimony from the employee and his physician regarding work-related aggravation.

The Labor and Industrial Relations Commission modified the administrative law judge's award, finding that the Second Injury Fund was liable for permanent partial disability benefits and rejecting the judge's improper analysis of threshold requirements for triggering Second Injury Fund liability. The Commission affirmed that the employee failed to prove permanent total disability but clarified that preexisting conditions need not individually meet statutory thresholds to be considered in Second Injury Fund liability analysis when they synergistically combine with the primary work injury.

The Commission reversed the administrative law judge's denial of Second Injury Fund liability, finding that the employee sustained a 20% permanent partial disability of the left knee from a November 2008 work-related fall that caused a torn medial meniscus and anterior cruciate ligament injury. The employee was entitled to Second Injury Fund benefits based on his multiple preexisting conditions including a prior finger injury, hernias, and diabetes that complicated his recovery from the primary knee injury.

The Labor and Industrial Relations Commission affirmed the Administrative Law Judge's award regarding liability in this workers' compensation case involving a left hip fracture. The employee claimed a coworker opened a door causing her to fall, but witness testimony and the employee's own statements to coworkers contradicted this account, creating significant questions about whether the injury arose out of and in the course of employment.

The Commission affirmed the ALJ's temporary award allowing workers' compensation for an employee who developed transverse myelitis following a flu vaccine administered at work. The Commission found that while the inoculation itself was not unexpected, the resulting adverse reaction constituted an accident arising out of and in the course of employment, and proper notice was given to the employer.

The Missouri LIRC affirmed the administrative law judge's award allowing workers' compensation benefits for Eric R. Buhlinger's multiple injuries sustained in a primary work incident, including cervical spine injuries (27.5%), concussion (5%), right elbow injury (5%), and consideration of pre-existing left ankle disability (17.5%). The Commission rejected the Second Injury Fund's argument that disabilities failing to individually meet statutory thresholds should be excluded from Second Injury Fund liability calculations, holding that all disabilities must be considered once Second Injury Fund involvement is established.

The Commission affirmed the administrative law judge's award of 56.6 weeks of permanent partial disability benefits to Dorothy Turner, with the Second Injury Fund found liable. The Commission rejected the Second Injury Fund's argument that preexisting conditions must individually meet statutory thresholds, clarifying that the Second Injury Fund's purpose is to compensate disability resulting from the combination of a work injury with preexisting disabilities.

The Commission affirmed the administrative law judge's decision denying Second Injury Fund compensation because the employee's preexisting right ankle condition (7.5% permanent partial disability) did not meet the 15% threshold required for major extremity injuries under Missouri law. The employee's January 2008 primary injury combined with the preexisting ankle condition did not entitle him to enhanced permanent partial disability benefits from the Second Injury Fund.

The LIRC affirmed the administrative law judge's award of enhanced permanent partial disability benefits from the Second Injury Fund for a compensable shoulder injury but modified the enhancement factor from 15% to 10% as stipulated by the parties. The Second Injury Fund was ordered to pay $6,248.23 in enhanced permanent partial disability benefits.

The Commission reversed the administrative law judge's decision denying Second Injury Fund liability for permanent partial disability benefits. The employee sustained a 20% permanent partial disability of the body as a whole referable to the lumbar spine and 30% permanent partial disability of the right hip from a work-related slip and fall injury on April 18, 2007.

The Commission affirmed the Administrative Law Judge's decision denying workers' compensation benefits to Patrick P. Fitzgerald for injuries sustained on July 31, 2007, when he tripped and fell onto a plate burner machine. Although the employee suffered compensable work injuries to his left elbow, left shoulder, and neck, combined with a preexisting low back disability from 1989, the majority found no basis for compensation from the Second Injury Fund.

The Missouri LIRC modified the administrative law judge's award, finding that the employee's deep vein thrombosis (DVT) does pose a significant hindrance to employment, contrary to the ALJ's conclusion. The Commission increased permanent partial disability benefits against the Second Injury Fund, recognizing that the DVT combined with preexisting conditions caused greater overall disability than previously awarded.

The Commission affirmed the administrative law judge's award of workers' compensation benefits to Norman L. Berra for occupational disease injuries to both wrists and left elbow sustained through repeated use of hand and power tools in his employment at Berra Construction, LLC. The employee was awarded permanent partial disability compensation totaling $21,234.40 plus temporary disability benefits and medical expenses.

The Commission modified the ALJ's award, affirming that the employee is permanently and totally disabled but reducing the apportionment of permanent partial disability attributable to the primary injury. The Commission found the ALJ's assessment of psychiatric disability (30%) excessive and credited Dr. Stillings' more conservative opinion of 3% psychiatric disability over Dr. Sky's assessment, while also addressing the lumbar spine disability component.