Opinion ID: 2043003
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: roan eagle's burden to prove compensability

Text: [F]or an award based on disability, a claimant must establish, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the employment proximately caused an injury which resulted in disability compensable under the Workers' Compensation Act. Heiliger v. Walters & Heiliger Electric, Inc., 236 Neb. 459, 468-69, 461 N.W.2d 565, 572-73 (1990). See Mendoza v. Omaha Meat Processors, 225 Neb. 771, 408 N.W.2d 280 (1987). An employee has the burden to show the cause-and-effect relationship involving employment, an industrial injury, and disability. Fees v. Rivett Lumber Co., 228 Neb. 617, 621, 423 N.W.2d 483, 486 (1988). Accord Rosemann v. County of Sarpy, 237 Neb. 252, 466 N.W.2d 59 (1991). Compensable disability is generally defined as inability, as the result of a workconnected injury, to perform or obtain work suitable to claimant's qualifications and training. 2 A. Larson, The Law of Workmen's Compensation ß 57.22(a) at 10-129 (1989). An employee who is injured to the extent that the employee cannot perform services other than those which are so limited in quality, dependability, or quantity that a reasonably stable market for the services is nonexistent may be classified as totally disabled.... Hence, the test for a worker's employability after a compensable injury is whether the worker can compete in the open and normal labor market for the worker's services. Sherard v. Bethphage Mission, Inc., 236 Neb. 900, 912, 464 N.W.2d 343, 351 (1991). [W]hether an injured employee has reached maximum physical recovery after medical treatment is, generally, a factual question for the Workers' Compensation Court. Heiliger v. Walters & Heiliger Electric, Inc., supra, 236 Neb. at 472, 461 N.W.2d at 574. Whether a claimant has sustained disability which is total or partial and which is temporary or permanent is a question of fact. Sherard v. Bethphage Mission, Inc., supra, 236 Neb. at 912, 464 N.W.2d at 351.