Title: Starr v. Sunlight Ranches

State: wyoming

Issuer: Wyoming Supreme Court

Document:

Starr v. Sunlight Ranches1995 WY 18890 P.2d 1096Case Number: 95-19Decided: 02/21/1995Supreme Court of Wyoming

In 
the Matter of the Workers' Compensation Claim of Steven B. STARR, Appellant 
(Employee-Claimant),
 v.

SUNLIGHT RANCHES, Appellee (Employer-Respondent), and 
State of Wyoming, ex rel. Wyoming Workers' Compensation Division, Appellee 
(Objector-Defendant).

 

ORDER ON 
CERTIFIED QUESTIONS

[¶1]      This matter came 
before the Court upon the district court's ORDER OF CERTIFICATION. In that 
order, the district court certified four questions to this Court for review. The 
Court has fully considered the order and will answer only the first of the four 
questions, to wit:

a. Whether the Medical Commission, established 
pursuant to WYO. STAT. § 27-14-616 (Supp. 1994), had subject matter jurisdiction 
to determine the present case, as the present case involved an injury occurring 
prior to the establishment of the Medical Commission?

[¶2]      One function of 
the Medical Commission is to conduct hearings on medically contested cases. WYO. 
STAT. § 27-14-616(b)(iv). The act creating the Medical Commission had an 
effective date of January 1, 1994. 1993 WYO. SESS. LAWS Chap. 229, § 3. Although 
the exact date of the injury which gave rise to the medically contested claim is 
not given, it is stipulated that the date of injury was prior to January 1, 
1994. The question, as noted above, is whether Steven B. Starr's claim should 
have been heard by a Medical Commission panel, or by the Office of 
Administrative Hearings under the statutory scheme in place at the time of 
Starr's injury.

[¶3]      We hold that the 
Medical Commission lacked subject matter jurisdiction to consider Starr's claim 
because Starr's right to a hearing before the Office of Administrative Hearings 
is a substantive right and was fixed at the time of his injury. State ex. rel. 
Workers' Compensation Div. v. Rivera, 796 P.2d 447, 449 (n. 3) (Wyo. 1990); 
Deloges v. State ex. rel. Workers' Compensation Div., 750 P.2d 1329, 1330 (n. 1) 
(Wyo. 1988); Matter of Shapiro, 703 P.2d 1079, 1082 (Wyo. 1985); Bemis v. 
Texaco, Inc., 400 P.2d 529 (Wyo. 1965), rehearing denied 401 P.2d 708. It is 
evident from the statute creating the Medical Commission, as well as the rules 
and regulations adopted by that Commission, that there is a substantive, not 
merely procedural, difference between the hearing available under § 27-14-616 
and the hearing which was available at the time of Starr's injury. Therefore, we 
will not give retroactive effect to the Medical Commission statute, or to the 
rules and regulations adopted pursuant to that statute. It is 
therefore,

[¶4]      
ORDERED that WYO. STAT. § 
27-14-616 does not apply to the resolution of Starr's contested case 
proceedings. This matter is remanded to the district court with directions that 
it be remanded to the Office of Administrative Hearings for resolution in 
accordance with the laws which were in effect at the time of Starr's injury. In 
view of this holding, it is not necessary to answer the other certified 
questions at this time.