Opinion ID: 1867115
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Balczewski and the Odd-Lot Doctrine

Text: ¶ 31. One important change in this direction was this court's recognition in Balczewski of the so-called odd-lot doctrine of permanent total disability. Balczewski, 76 Wis. 2d at 495-96. As Balczewski explained, the odd-lot doctrine probably originated in an opinion by Judge Moulton in the King's Bench decision of Cardiff Corp. v. Hall, 1 K.B. 1009 (1911). Cardiff Corp., 1 K.B. at 494; see also 4 Arthur Larson and Lex K. Larson, Larson's Workers' Compensation Law § 83.02, at 83-3 (2003). The essential idea behind the doctrine is that total disability under worker's compensation law should not be taken literally to mean complete and utter helplessness, because some injured workers find themselves, because of their age, education, training, and overall capacity, incapable of becoming [] ordinary work[men] of average capacity in any well known branch of the labour market. Cardiff Corp., 1 K.B. at 1020. In the colloquial language that has come to represent this doctrine, some injured workers are fit only for the odd lot job that appears occasionally and for a short time. ¶ 32. As Balczewski itself made clear, the odd-lot doctrine operates as a rule of evidence. Balczewski, 76 Wis. 2d at 495; see also Neal and Danas, supra, § 5.31, at 21. The doctrine creates a burden-shifting framework that determines which party in a nonscheduled injury worker's compensation case is responsible for producing evidence sufficient to go forward with a claim for permanent total disability on an odd-lot basis. Paraphrasing the Larson treatise, Balczewski held: [W]here a claimant makes a prima facie case that he has been injured in an industrial accident and, because of his injury, age, education, and capacity, he is unable to secure any continuing and gainful employment, the burden of showing that the claimant is in fact employable and that jobs do exist for the injured claimant shifts to the employer. Balczewski, 76 Wis. 2d at 495. ¶ 33. As noted above, LIRC held that Beecher failed to make a prima facie case of odd-lot disability because, in part, he did not demonstrate sufficient efforts to find suitable post-injury employment. LIRC determined that Beecher's insufficient job search was a factor that may be considered against him in determining whether he has established a prima facie case of odd-lot unemployability. In support of this proposition, LIRC relied on a passage in Larson's treatise not cited in the Balczewski decision. LIRC also argues on appeal that the enactment of Wis. Stat. § 102.17(7), regarding receipt of expert evidence on loss of earning capacity, and DWD § 80.34, setting forth factors that the DWD is to consider in determining loss of earning capacity, support a modification of the Balczewski prima facie odd-lot formula to require the applicant to show reasonable job search efforts. Outokumpu disagrees, and concedes that Beecher met his burden of demonstrating prima facie odd-lot status; the employer instead argues that it successfully rebutted Beecher's prima facie case. Beecher argues that the court of appeals properly reversed LIRC's conclusion that he had not met his prima facie odd-lot burden because of an insufficient post-injury job search.