Opinion ID: 2534396
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Incurred As A Determination Separate From Manifestation

Text: Idaho Code § 72-439(1) provides that [a]n employer shall not be liable for any compensation for an occupational disease unless such disease is actually incurred in the employer's employment. Precision focuses on the use of the word incurred in the statute. From this Precision argues the fact-finder must determine when an occupational disease is incurred, and that this determination is separate and independent from the question of when manifestation takes place under I.C. § 72-102(18). Manifestation is argued by Precision to only be relevant to the notice and limitations requirements found in I.C. §§ 72-448 and 72-706. In contrast, Precision asserts the time when an occupational disease is incurred establishes which employer is liable to the claimant. Unlike manifestation which occurs when the claimant knows he has an occupational disease or is so informed by a physician, Precision contends an occupational disease is incurred at the point in time the claimant suffers the first symptoms. Applying its interpretation of the statutes to the present case, Precision argues that because Sundquist suffered from pain before he came to work for Precision, his occupational disease was incurred while he was working for a previous employer. That other employer, Precision contends, should be liable instead of Precision. Precision's interpretation of the meaning of incurred as used in I.C. § 72-439(1) is unpersuasive. Precision takes incurred to be an identifiable point in time when the occupational disease came into existence. In contrast, Sundquist argues the word incurred as used in this section means simply that the occupational disease arose out of and in the course of employment. Sundquist is correct. Idaho Code § 72-102(21)(b) defines the word at issue, stating that `[c]ontracted' and `incurred,' when referring to an occupational disease, shall be deemed the equivalent of the term `arising out of and in the course of' employment. Because in Idaho's worker's compensation law the word incurred means `arising out of and in the course of' employment, it is as much a reference to cause as to a particular point in time. See I.C. § 72-102(21)(b). As an occupational disease develops over time, it is possible for the disease to be incurred by a claimant under a series of different employers before it becomes manifest. In such a situation, I.C. § 72-439(3) provides that it is the last such employer, or its surety, who is liable to the claimant. [1] Here, the Industrial Commission found Precision to be that last employer within the meaning of I.C. § 72-439(3) and therefore correctly placed liability with Precision.