COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA 

Present: Chief Judge Fitzpatrick, Judges Willis and Bumgardner 

Argued at Salem, Virginia 

PHIL DAMEWOOD, ADMINISTRATOR OF 

 THE ESTATE OF TEDDY D. DAMEWOOD 

 OPINION BY 

v. Record No. 0901-98-3 JUDGE RUDOLPH BUMGARDNER, III 

 JANUARY 26, 1999 

LANFORD BROTHERS COMPANY AND 

 THE MARYLAND INSURANCE GROUP 

 FROM THE VIRGINIA WORKERS' COMPENSATION COMMISSION 

 J. Christopher Clemens (Guynn & Clemens, 

P.C., on brief), for appellant. 

 William S. Sands, Jr. (Duncan and Hopkins, 

P.C., on brief), for appellees. 

 The claimant's estate appeals the decision of the Workers' 

Compensation Commission that denied it the proceeds of a 

settlement offer. The claimant entered into a settlement 

agreement with his employer and its insurance carrier and 

submitted it to the commission for approval. When it learned of 

the claimant's death, the carrier notified the commission that it 

was withdrawing its settlement offer. The commission held that 

the carrier was entitled to withdraw the offer. Concluding that 

Code § 65.2-701 permitted the withdrawal, we affirm the 

commission's decision. 

 The claimant received an injury in September 1995. The 

employer accepted his claim as compensable, and the commission 

awarded benefits. During the fall of 1997, the claimant and the 

carrier negotiated a settlement agreement. They submitted 
- 2 - 

settlement documents to the commission December 8, 1997, but 

approximately two weeks later the claimant died of causes 

unrelated to his compensable injury. The estate notified the 

commission of the claimant's death and requested payment of the 

settlement directly to the estate. The carrier then notified the 

commission that it was withdrawing its settlement offer. The 

deputy commissioner concluded that either party could withdraw 

consent before commission approval of the settlement agreement, 

and the full commission affirmed that decision. 

 Compromise settlement agreements are not binding until 

approved by the commission. See Code § 65.2-701(A).1

 The code 

 

 1Code § 65.2-701: 

 A. If after injury or death, the 

employer and the injured employee or his 

dependents reach an agreement in regard to 

compensation or in compromise of a claim for 

compensation under this title, a memorandum 

of the agreement in the form prescribed by 

the Commission shall be filed with the 

Commission for approval. The agreement may 

be prepared by the employee, the employer or 

the compensation carrier. If approved, the 

agreement shall be binding, and an award of 

compensation entered upon such agreement 

shall be for all purposes enforceable as 

provided by § 65.2-710. If not approved, the 

same agreement shall be void. Such agreement 

may be approved only when the Commission, or 

any member thereof, is clearly of the opinion 

that the best interests of the employee or 

his dependents will be served thereby. The 

approval of such agreement shall bind infant 

or incapacitated dependents affected thereby. 

 Any agreement entered into during the 

pendency of an appeal to the Court of Appeals 

shall be effective only with the approval of 

the Commission as herein provided. 
- 3 - 

provides that when a claimant and employer have reached a 

settlement agreement and filed a memorandum of the agreement with 

the commission for approval, the agreement is binding if the 

commission approves it. The agreement is not binding until the 

commission approves it, and either party may withdraw its offer 

to settle before approval. See Brickell v. Virginia State Police 

Dep't, No. 150-35-39 (Va. Workers' Comp. Comm'n Dec. 19, 1994) 

(agreement is neither final nor enforceable until approved by the 

commission). The code contains no exception to the basic 

provision that an agreement becomes binding when the commission 

approves it. 

 The estate contends the settlement agreement is binding on 

the employer if the claimant dies before the commission approves 

the agreement. It asserts that the commission in Lloyd v. 

Halifax Cotton Mills, Inc., 64 O.I.C. 209 (1985), created an 

exception to the general provision when the claimant dies of 

unrelated causes. The estate argues the exception for death 

created in Lloyd binds the commission unless Sovran Financial 

Corp. v. Nanney, 12 Va. App. 1156, 408 S.E.2d 266 (1991), 

overruled Lloyd. 

 In Lloyd, the claimant and the carrier filed their petition 

to have the commission approve a compromise settlement. The 

claimant died before the commission approved the settlement, and 

the carrier argued that the death voided the settlement. The 

deputy commissioner approved the settlement anyway. The full 
- 4 - 

commission ruled that claimant's death did not void the agreement 

and the employer was bound by the settlement. It reasoned that 

the commission must approve an agreement if it was in a 

claimant's best interest. Since this claimant was dead, the only 

conclusion it could reach would be that a settlement was in the 

best interest of the claimant. Because death did not void the 

settlement, the employer was bound when the commission did 

approve it. 

 In Nanney, the commission had approved a settlement between 

the claimant and the carrier. Claimant's attorney petitioned for 

review of the approval within twenty days of the approval. This 

Court held that the commission could review an approved agreement 

if a petition to review was filed within twenty days. The 

petition did not require a claim of fraud or mistake. See id. at 

1159, 408 S.E.2d at 268 (citing Harris v. Diamond Constr. Co., 

184 Va. 711, 721, 36 S.E.2d 573, 578 (1946)). That holding does 

not affect the decision in Lloyd. 

 Both parties cite commission decisions that suggest Nanney

created a rule that either party could unilaterally withdraw a 

settlement offer for up to twenty days after the commission has 

approved a settlement. However, Nanney does not support such a 

broad interpretation. It simply held that either party could 

petition for review within the twenty-day period. 

 Code § 65.2-701(A) provides that when a claimant and the 

employer have reached a settlement agreement and have filed a 
- 5 - 

memorandum of the agreement with the commission for approval, 

such agreement shall be binding if approved. Compromise 

settlement agreements are not binding until approved by the 

commission. Lloyd held that death did not void the agreement, so 

when the commission approved the settlement after death, the 

employer was bound. It did not create an exception to the 

general rule fixing the point at which a settlement becomes 

binding. Nanney applies after the commission has given approval. 

 In the present case, the carrier withdrew its settlement 

offer before approval by the commission. Although the claimant 

died, the carrier had every right to withdraw its consent before 

approval made it a binding agreement. The plain wording of the 

statute permitted this action, and it contemplates no exception 

if the claimant should die in the interim between agreement and 

approval. 

 For the reasons cited, we affirm the commission's decision. 

 Affirmed.