Opinion ID: 887318
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: ¶ 6 Murray suffered injuries in 1967 and 1974 which required removal of part or all of the cartilage in both of his knees. He remained physically active both in the jobs he performed and in vigorous recreational activities. ¶ 7 In 1982, Murray began working for MSE Technology Applications, Inc. (MSE) in Butte, Montana, as a security guard and mail carrier. He continued to work there for the next eighteen and one-half years. From approximately 1989 to 2000, he worked as a tool room attendant, issuing and repairing tools for other MSE employees. Much of Murray's work involved standing on concrete or asphalt. ¶ 8 From 1993 to 2000, Murray suffered several episodes of knee pain, swelling and effusion in connection with his personal recreational activities. Until 2000, he recovered quickly and resumed his active lifestyle after each episode. Nevertheless, physician Michael Gallagher advised him by 1996 that bilateral knee replacements were inevitable because his knees continued to degenerate. ¶ 9 In December of 2000, orthopedic surgeon Nicholas Blavatsky, who specialized in knee replacements and later performed Murray's knee replacement surgery, told Murray that the work at MSE had contributed to Murray's condition and need for surgery. Within a month, Murray filed an occupational disease claim and scheduled bilateral knee replacements. He had been given notice that his job at MSE was being phased out and knew he would need time to recover from his impending knee surgeries. As a result, Murray resigned from his employment with MSE on January 12, 2001. ¶ 10 The State Fund, MSE's workers' compensation insurer at the time Murray filed his claim, began paying Murray benefits under a reservation of rights. It petitioned the Workers' Compensation Court for a determination that Indemnity, MSE's prior workers' compensation insurer, is liable for compensation for Murray's bilateral knee condition. ¶ 11 Murray testified at the hearing on the State Fund's petition. The Workers' Compensation Court admitted depositions of Murray, Gallagher, Blavatsky, and Dr. Gary M. Rapaport into evidence. Rapaport, an occupational medicine specialist, had examined Murray in August of 2001 at the request of the Montana Department of Labor and Industry. In addition, the State Fund offered into evidence, and the court admitted over Murray's objection, a letter in which Rapaport responded to specific questions the State Fund submitted to him after his deposition. ¶ 12 In detailed findings of fact and conclusions of law, the Workers' Compensation Court reviewed the evidence and determined it established that Murray's work both significantly aggravated his preexisting bilateral knee condition and led to or accelerated his need for knee replacement surgery. The court determined Murray is entitled to the indemnity and medical benefits available under the Montana Occupational Disease Act and concluded that, as the insurer at risk during Murray's last occupational exposure, the State Fund is liable for paying the benefits. The Workers' Compensation Court subsequently denied the State Fund's request for reconsideration. The State Fund appeals.