Source: http://www.wcc.state.md.us/adjud_claims/crt_appeals.html
Timestamp: 2020-05-29 04:07:51
Document Index: 102405503

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 9', '§ 9', '§ 9', '§ 9', '§ 9', '§ 9', '§ 9', '§ 9', '§ 9', '§ 9', '§ 9', '§ 9', '§ 29', '§ 9', '§ 29', '§ 9', '§ 29', '§ 29', '§ 9', '§ 29', '§ 9']

Montgomery County, Maryland v. John T. Maloney
Court of Special Appeals No. 632
Opinion by Kehoe, J. (April 7, 2020) WORKERS’ COMPENSATION – REVIEW BY COURT – TRIAL DE NOVO
When a party seeks judicial review of an unfavorable decision by the Workers’ Compensation Commission, his opponent is not inescapably bound by the appealing party’s procedural preference. The language of Md. Code, Lab. & Empl. § 9-745(d), makes plain that “any party” can request, “in accordance with the practice in civil cases,” a de novo review of “any question of fact involved in the case.”
Review by “essentially” de novo trial is available only for issues of fact actually decided by the Commission. Whether an injury arises “out of” and “in the course of” employment is a factual question—or a “mixed” question of law and fact—able to be considered afresh by the circuit court if there are facts in dispute or if opposing inferences can reasonably be drawn from undisputed facts.
Harford County, Maryland v. Gary E. Mitchell, Sr.
Court of Special Appeals No. 3456
Opinion by Beachley, J. (April 2, 2020) WORKERS’ COMPENSATION—OFFSETS
The Court held that offset in LE § 9-503(e)(2) is calculated based on the claimant’s “weekly salary.” “Average weekly wage” is a term of art defined by LE § 9- 602, calculated based on the claimant’s earnings at the time of injury or last injurious exposure to the hazards of an occupational disease. The Court concludes that the legislature’s use of “weekly salary” rather than “average weekly wage” was intentional. Because the employee is generally entitled to receive both workers’ compensation and retirement benefits, and construing the statute in accordance with its benevolent purpose, “weekly salary” refers to the claimant’s salary at the time of retirement for purposes of calculating the offset.
Baltimore County, Maryland v. Charles Ulrich
Court of Special Appeals No. 2541
Opinion by Arthur, J. (January 30, 2020) WORKERS’ COMPENSATION ACT - STATUTORY LIEN ON EMPLOYEE’S RECOVERY FROM THIRD PARTY HEALTHCARE PROVIDER
If a person other than an employer is liable for a work-related injury, the employee may bring a claim under the Workers’ Compensation Act against the employer or may bring an action for damages against the third-party tortfeasor. Md. Code (1991, 2016 Repl. Vol.), § 9-901 of the Labor and Employment Article. When an employee pursues a claim for workers’ compensation benefits and also sues the third party for damages, the employer retains a subrogation interest in the reimbursement of benefits that it paid under the Act, including medical expenses. This subrogation interest acts as a statutory lien on the employee’s recovery of damages from a third-party tortfeasor. See id. § 9-902(e).
A third-party healthcare provider that merely treats an employee’s work-related injury is not liable for that injury, but only for the additional harm resulting from negligent treatment. Accordingly, where an employer has paid for medical services exclusively to treat the compensable injury (not to treat the additional harm from medical negligence), the employer has no subrogation interest in the reimbursement of those medical expenses out of the damages recovered by an employee for the alleged negligent treatment.
Uninsured Employers’ Fund v. Tyson Farms, Inc., et al.
Court of Special Appeals No. 1057
Opinion by Wright, J. (November 22, 2019) WORKERS’ COMPENSATION – NATURE AND GROUNDS OF EMPLOYER’S LIABILITY – IN GENERAL
In a case where a party is employed by a landowner to manage his property, the landowner’s status as an employer may be coextensive with another person or entity, if such person or entity exercises an appropriate degree of control over the party. Relevant to the determination of co-employment is the degree of control exercised by the landowner over the employee relative to that of the other person or entity. Where, as here, a landowner exercises minimal control over an employee, and a separate person or entity maintains substantial control over the day-to-day functions of that employee, that other person or entity may be properly determined to be a co-employer, and consequently falls subject to the level of legal responsibility commensurate with that designation.
Baltimore County, Maryland v. Michael Quinlan
Court of Appeals No. 50
Opinion by Adkins, J. (August 26, 2019) MARYLAND WORKERS’ COMPENSATION ACT—OCCUPATIONAL DISEASE—LE § 9-502(D)—PARAMEDIC/FIREFIGHTERS—DEGENERATIVE MENISCAL TEARS:
Pursuant to Maryland Code Ann. (1991, 2016 Repl. Vol.), § 9- 502(d) of the Labor and Employment Article (“LE”), an occupational disease is only compensable if: (1) it is “due to the nature of an employment in which hazards of the occupational disease exist”; and (2) “it reasonably may be concluded that the occupational disease was incurred as a result of the employment of the covered employee.” Here, the record contained evidence that the nature of the job of a paramedic/firefighter involved hazards that place an employee at greater risk for degenerative knee conditions than those faced by the general public. The employee, Michael Quinlan (“Quinlan”), was a paramedic, and was required to engage in the activities that account for this increased risk. Moreover, he engaged in these activities repetitively over 24 years of employment. This claim was not shown to involve a concomitant preexisting condition. Therefore, as a matter of law, the degenerative meniscal tears could be considered an occupational disease, and there was sufficient evidence for the jury to reasonably conclude that Quinlan’s degenerative knee tears were compensable.
Peter Gang v. Montgomery County, Maryland
Court of Appeals No. 67
Opinion by Battaglia, J. (June 24, 2019) WORKERS’ COMPENSATION ACT – MD. CODE (1991, 2016 REPL. VOL.), § 9-736 LAB. & EMPL. ART. – CONTINUING POWERS AND JURISDICTION; MODIFICATION OF PREVIOUS ORDERS AND AWARDS
Section 9-736(a) of the Labor and Employment Article, the subsection which governs the readjustment of a rate of compensation in cases of aggravation, diminution or termination of disability, does not limit or otherwise restrict the jurisdiction of the Workers’ Compensation Commission to modify its previous findings, orders or awards under Section 9-736(b), provided the modification sought is applied for within five years after the date of the accident, the date of disablement or the last compensation payment.
Justin Stine v. Montgomery County, Maryland
Court of Special Appeals No. 578
Opinion by Nazarian, J. (June 1, 2018) WORKERS’ COMPENSATION – AMOUNT AND PERIOD OF COMPENSATION – COMPUTATION OF AVERAGE WEEKLY WAGE – EVIDENCE – EXPERT TESTIMONY The circuit court did not err in excluding testimony from workers’ compensation claimant’s vocational expert. Expert testimony about wage increases the claimant might expect at some point in the future, after earning a bachelor’s degree in nursing and passing the requisite licensing examinations, was not relevant to the computation of the claimant’s average weekly wage under MD. CODE ANN., LABOR & EMPL. § 9-602(g), which applied to claimant because of his status as volunteer emergency medical technician for a fire department. The circuit court was not required to apply section 9-602(a)(3), which allows for consideration of wages a claimant may expect to earn in the future given his age and experience.
WORKERS’ COMPENSATION – AMOUNT AND PERIOD OF COMPENSATION
– COMPUTATION OF AVERAGE WEEKLY WAGE The circuit court erred in holding that COMAR 14.09.03.06 compelled the Commission to calculate the average weekly wage based on average wages earned during a fourteen-week period. As this Court recently clarified in Richard Beavers Constr. v. Wagstaff, that regulation “does not purport to restrict the Commission in any manner from utilizing a
different time period [than fourteen weeks] if the Commission deems it appropriate to do so.” 236 Md. App. 1, 24–25 (2018) (quoting Gross v. Sessinghause & Ostergaard, Inc., 331 Md. 37, 50 (1993)).
WORKERS’ COMPENSATION – AMOUNT AND PERIOD OF COMPENSATION – COMPUTATION OF AVERAGE WEEKLY WAGE – PROCEEDINGS TO SECURE COMPENSATION – REVIEW BY COURT – RIGHT TO TRIAL DE NOVO – RIGHT TO JURY TRIAL The circuit court erred in entering an order affirming the decision of the Workers’ Compensation Commission that set the claimant’s average weekly wage. The circuit court instead should have proceeded with a jury trial, which the claimant had requested pursuant to MD. CODE ANN., LABOR & EMPL. § 9-745(d). Judicial review in workers’ compensation cases can follow one of two “modalities”: an unadorned administrative appeal or an essential trial de novo. Where the claimant opted for an essential trial de novo and had requested a jury, the exclusion of his expert’s testimony did not terminate his right to have a jury decide the factual question of his average weekly wage under MD. CODE ANN., LABOR & EMPL. § 9-602(g).
Danny Blankenship v. State of Maryland/MTA, et al.
Court of Special Appeals No. 179
Opinion by Berger, J. (May 31, 2018) WORKERS’ COMPENSATION - STATUTORY OFFSETS Two statutory offsets apply to workers’ compensation benefits in order to prevent double recovery for the same injury: the statutory offset set forth in LE § 9-610 and the statutory offset set forth in Md. Code (1993, 2015 Repl. Vol.), § 29-118 of the State Personnel & Pensions Article (“SPP”). The LE § 9-610 offset applies to benefits except for those benefits “subject to an offset under [SPP] § 29-118.” The LE § 9-610 offset operates by reducing workers’ compensation benefits, while the SPP § 29-118 offset leaves workers’ compensation benefits unaffected. The SPP offset applies when a pension is “administered” by the Board of Trustees for the State Retirement and Pension System; otherwise, the LE offset applies.
APPLICABILITY OF STATUTORY OFFSETS - STATE PERSONNEL AND PENSION OFFSET - LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT OFFSET - ADMINISTRATION OF MTA PENSION SYSTEM The SPP § 29-118 offset applies when a pension is “administered” by the Board of Trustees for the State Retirement and Pension System; otherwise, the LE § 9-610 offset applies. The State Personnel and Pensions System is responsible for the investment of the MTA pension’s assets, but the MTA is otherwise responsible for the day-to-day administration of the pension. Administration of the assets does not constitute “administration” of the MTA pension. The MTA, and the MTA alone, is responsible for the day to-day administration of the MTA pension plan, including the payment of pension benefits and determination of participant eligibility. Because the MTA pension is separate and distinct from the Maryland State Retirement and Pension System, the benefits at issue in this case were not subject to an offset under SPP § 29-118 but were subject to the LE § 9-610 offset.
Rina Calvo v. Montgomery County, Maryland
Court of Appeals No. 48
Opinion by Adkins, J. (May 21, 2018) WORKERS’ COMPENSATION — TRAVELING EMPLOYEE: An employee who was required to report from her home to a different work site was not a traveling employee under Mulready v. Univ. Research Corp., 360 Md. 51 (2000), because traveling employee status generally applies to employees who are injured on premises where the employee is staying to carry out the employer’s business.
WORKERS’ COMPENSATION — GOING AND COMING RULE — SPECIAL
MISSION OR ERRAND EXCEPTION: Determining whether an employee’s journey is sufficiently special to satisfy the special mission or errand exception to the going and coming rule requires consideration of: (1) the relative regularity or unusualness of the particular journey in the context of the employee’s normal duties; (2) the relative onerousness of the journey in comparison to the service to be performed at the end of the journey and other circumstances of the journey including the length and time of the journey, and whether the employee usually worked at that time; and (3) the suddenness with which the employee was called to work, or whether the call was made with an element of urgency.
MISSION OR ERRAND EXCEPTION — SUMMARY JUDGMENT: Employer’s motion for summary judgment should not have been granted because employee’s claim was not barred by the going and coming rule when the employee was required to attend an annual mandatory training on a day she did not typically work, the training was held at a different location than her usual work site, and the training was not regular in the context of her ordinary duties. From these facts, a trier of fact could reasonably infer that the special mission exception applied.