Title: GRAY v. NATKIN CONTRACTING
Citation: 2001 OK 73, 44 P.3d 547, 72OBJ2712
Docket Number: 
State: Oklahoma
Issuer: Oklahoma Supreme Court
Date: September 18, 2001

GRAY v. NATKIN CONTRACTING Annotate this Case GRAY v. NATKIN CONTRACTING 2001 OK 73 44 P.3d 547 72 OBJ 2712 Case Number: 94263 Decided: 09/18/2001 Mandate Issued: 04/18/2002 THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA RICHARD A. GRAY, Petitioner v. NATKIN CONTRACTING and the WORKERS' COMPENSATION COURT, Respondents [44 P.3d 548] ON CERTIORARI TO THE COURT OF CIVIL APPEALS, DIVISION 4 ¶0 Petitioner sustained a work-related back injury. Employer commenced temporary total disability (TTD) payments without an order of the court. Employer sought a credit for overpayment of TTD against the permanent partial disability award because petitioner worked on a few occasions during the time he received TTD compensation. The Honorable Ellen C. Edwards, Judge of the Workers' Compensation Court, found that petitioner received an overpayment of TTD compensation and ordered a credit. Petitioner sought appellate-court review of the trial judge's findings and order relating to TTD. The Court of Civil Appeals vacated the credit and remanded with instructions to strike the credit. Employer filed a petition for writ of certiorari. CERTIORARI PREVIOUSLY GRANTED; OPINION OF THE COURT OF CIVIL APPEALS, DIVISION 4, VACATED; WORKERS' COMPENSATION COURT ORDER VACATED IN PART; CASE REMANDED TO THE WORKERS' COMPENSATION COURT WITH INSTRUCTIONS. Dale Warner, Tulsa, Oklahoma, for petitioner. Kevin D. Berry, Andrew D. Downing, Tulsa, Oklahoma, for respondents. BOUDREAU, Justice: ¶1 This is a review proceeding from an order of the trial judge of the Workers' Compensation Court making an award for permanent partial disability and ordering a credit for overpayment of temporary total disability compensation. At issue is the trial judge's finding that claimant's temporary total disability ceased on April 2, 1999. The dispositive question is whether the temporary disability period ceased when claimant performed some work during the healing period. Under the circumstances of this case, we answer in the negative. We vacate the opinion of the Court of Civil Appeals and we vacate part 3 of the Workers' Compensation Court order and remand this case to the Workers' Compensation Court with instructions. [44 P.3d 549] I. Background ¶2 On October 9, 1998, petitioner, Richard A. Gray (claimant), injured his back when he lifted a 200-pound generator onto a trailer. At the time of the injury, claimant worked for Natkin Contracting (employer) as a supervising commercial plumber. Employer admitted that claimant's injury was accidental and work related. Employer commenced payment of temporary total disability (TTD) compensation as of October 14, 1998, without an order of the court. ¶3 As a result of the work-related injury, claimant underwent L4-5 discectomy surgery on October 26, 1998. Claimant suffered post-operative complications due to infections which extended the period of convalescence and treatment. ¶4 Claimant reached maximum medical improvement and the condition of his injury stabilized as of August 20, 1999, when claimant's medical expert evaluated him for a permanent impairment rating. Claimant's treating physician released him to return to work, with permanent restrictions, on September 9, 1999. Employer terminated claimant's TTD compensation as of September 21, 1999. ¶5 At trial on the permanent disability claim, employer sought credit for overpayment of TTD compensation. Claimant acknowledged that his TTD compensation should have been terminated on August 20, 1999, when his medical expert evaluated him for permanent impairment rating, and that he received an overpayment of TTD in the amount of $1,874.40. ¶6 At the hearing, claimant testified that, separate and apart from his plumbing work for employer, he operated a business providing security services at Tulsa Speedway. Claimant provided the security services on week-end nights during the racing season. Claimant informed the owners of Tulsa Speedway that he was not physically able to perform the security work for the 1999 racing season because of his injury. However, he continued to provide security personnel at the speedway by assigning his friends to work the shifts and billing the speedway for their services. ¶8 At the conclusion of the hearing, the trial judge ordered that claimant's permanent partial disability award be reduced by $8,690.40, in addition to the stipulated overpayment of $1,874.40. ¶9 The Court of Civil Appeals held that the credit for TTD compensation for the period from April 2, 1999 to August 20, 1999, was erroneous as a matter of law. The Court of Civil Appeals remanded the case to the trial judge with directions to strike the $8,690.40 credit. ¶10 Employer petitioned for certiorari arguing that claimant's activities at the Tulsa Speedway demonstrate that he was capable of and did perform some type of remunerative labor. Employer further argued that TTD means a total incapacity following an accidental injury to do any kind of labor, work or employment activity and that the TTD period terminates upon the performance of any type of work. This Court granted employer's petition for certiorari review. II. Standard of Review III. Temporary disability compensation is designed to replace an injured worker's total or partial loss of wages during the healing period. ¶12 Usually a work-related injury is followed by a period of healing and a loss of total or partial wages. An injured worker may be entitled to temporary disability benefits during the healing period, subject to the waiting period.7 The healing period ends and any temporary disability benefits ceases upon complete recovery or when maximum medical improvement is reached.8 IV. An injured worker is entitled to temporary total disability compensation upon a showing of physical incapacity and resultant total inability to earn wages during the healing period. ¶14 Temporary total disability compensation to replace the loss of wages during the healing period is a blend of two elements. ¶15 The second element is the inability to earn wages that is normally demonstrated by nonmedical evidence touching upon claimant's employment situation. Ordinarily an incapacity for work cannot be classified as total under our workers' compensation law if the earning power of the employee is not wholly destroyed and the capacity to perform remunerative employment remains. V. Evidence that the injured worker performed some occasional or sporadic work during the healing period will not destroy the worker's right to temporary total disability compensation. ¶16 If maximum medical recovery has not been achieved, the temporary total disability period is not automatically terminated merely because the injured worker performs some occasional or sporadic work.16 A total incapacity for work is nonetheless [44 P.3d 552] present when the injured worker is unable to work for all practical purposes, although the worker obtains occasional or sporadic employment under rare conditions at small remuneration.17 VI. The trial judge's finding that claimant's temporary total disability ceased on April 2, 1999, is not supported by competent evidence. ¶18 Claimant's medical report presented the only medical evidence bearing on the issue of temporary total disability at the hearing requesting the credit.20 The report states that claimant injured his lumbosacral back resulting in a discogenic injury with disc herniation requiring surgical intervention and that claimant has persistent pain and limited motion over the back and burning, tingling, numbness and paresthesias with pain into his lower extremities and left side. That report indicates that the claimant did not reach maximum medical improvement until August 20, 1999.21 Accordingly as a purely medical issue, it is uncontroverted that claimant was in the healing period between April 2, 1999 and August 20, 1999. ¶19 The nonmedical evidence touching upon claimant's employment situation during his healing period does not indicate that claimant was not TTD after April 2, 1999. Evidence of the occasional and light tasks claimant performed at the speedway and the meager compensation he earned does not demonstrate that claimant was able to return to any gainful employment during the healing period.22 While the evidence shows that claimant did not remain totally idle during the healing period, there is no evidence supporting the trial judge's finding that [ 44 P.3d 553 ] claimant's temporary total disability ceased on April 2, 1999. VII. CONCLUSION ¶20 The temporary disability benefits set forth in our statutory schedule of compensation are designed to replace an injured worker's total or partial loss of wages during the healing period. An injured worker is entitled to temporary total disability compensation upon a showing of physical incapacity and resultant inability to earn wages during the healing period. Proof of capacity to do some occasional or sporadic work during the healing period does not automatically destroy an injured worker's right to temporary total disability compensation. ¶21 The trial judge's finding that claimant's temporary total disability ceased on April 2, 1999, is not supported by competent evidence. Accordingly, that finding is erroneous as a matter of law. Part -3- of the trial judge's order on review is vacated and this case is remanded to the trial judge with instructions to vacate the credit granted employer for temporary total disability paid to claimant for the period from April 2, 1999, through August 20, 1999. CERTIORARI PREVIOUSLY GRANTED; OPINION OF THE COURT OF CIVIL APPEALS, DIVISION 4, VACATED; WORKERS' COMPENSATION COURT ORDER VACATED IN PART; CASE REMANDED TO THE WORKERS' COMPENSATION COURT WITH INSTRUCTIONS. ¶22 ALL JUSTICES CONCUR. FOOT