Court Stacks PI from 'Related' Injuries

On June 24, 2010, the Maine Supreme Court decided that the Workers’ Compensation Board can “stack” permanent impairment from related work injuries to get an employee over the PI threshold for lifetime partial benefits under § 213.

In Buckley v. SD Warren Co., 2010 ME 53, Buckley had two 1996 left shoulder injuries, a 2000 right shoulder injury, and a 2001 bilateral shoulder injury, all work-related. Hearing Officer Tim Collier found that the 2000 right shoulder injury occurred because Buckley was favoring his left shoulder, but it did not cause any additional PI to the left shoulder, and that the 2001 bilateral shoulder injury did not cause any additional PI or aggravate or accelerate any of the prior injuries. HO Collier found that the two 1996 injuries caused 7% PI to the left shoulder, and the 2000 and 2001 injuries caused 7% PI to the right shoulder, but he did not combine or "stack" the impairment percentages.

On appeal, the Court vacated the decision. The Court found that, because the 2000 right shoulder injury resulted from the 1996 left shoulder injuries, they were related to each other, that both injuries were part of the "work injury at issue in the determination" under § 213 (1-A), and that the PI from both injuries should therefore be combined or ‘stacked.’

The Court did not state, however, whether the PI from both related injuries should be combined to determine the PI rating only for the first injury or for both injuries. Buckley had argued that PI from all work injuries must always be combined because they all collectively constitute the "work injury at issue in the determination." The Court did not agree with that argument, but some employee attorneys -- and hearing officers -- may interpret Buckley to say that.

If you have any questions about the Buckley decision, permanent impairment determinations, or other workers' compensation issues, please give us a call.

Thomas Getchell
Michael Richards
Daniel Gilligan

TROUBH HEISLER
Attorneys at Law
511 Congress Street
PO Box 9711
Portland, Maine 04104-5011
(207) 780-6789
http://www.troubhheisler.com