Opinion ID: 2533685
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Application of AS 23.30.110(c)

Text: The board found that Bailey's claim was time barred by AS 23.30.110(c) of the workers' compensation act. Subsection.110(c) gives claimants two years to request a hearing after an employee controverts a claim: Before a hearing is scheduled, the party seeking a hearing shall file a request for a hearing together with an affidavit stating that the party has completed necessary discovery, obtained necessary evidence, and is prepared for the hearing.... If the employer controverts a claim on a board-prescribed controversion notice and the employee does not request a hearing within two years following the filing of the controversion notice, the claim is denied. Bailey argues that both as a matter of statutory interpretation and as a matter of constitutional law the time limits of AS 23.30.110(c) cannot be applied to his claims. Before addressing these arguments, however, we must consider the preliminary question of whether the undisputed facts of the case would support a dismissal under subsection .110(c), even if the provision applies to Bailey's claim and is constitutionally valid. Bailey filed three claims for medical benefits. In the first claim, filed in 1997, Bailey objected to Geophysical's controversion of claims that had been submitted by his pharmacies. The second claim, filed in 1999, renewed Bailey's 1997 claim. In the third claim, filed in 2001, Bailey sought compensation for medical expenses incurred after 1997. Bailey also pressed claims for breach of contract, for mental duress, and for physical pain. The board held that the only claim that mattered for purposes of the two-year statute of limitations was Bailey's 1997 claim, finding that his two later claims merged with the 1997 claim because they were for the same benefits originally sought. Because Geophysical controverted Bailey's 1997 claim on October 2, 1997, the board reasoned that subsection .110(c) required him to request a hearing by October 2, 1999. So the board concluded that his claims should be dismissed. We agree that Bailey's 1997 and 1999 claims were properly dismissed. But we conclude the board should not have dismissed Bailey's 2001 claim. Normally, Bailey's failure to request a hearing on his 1997 claim by October 2, 1999 would require that this claim be dismissed. [8] But at the 1999 prehearing conference, the hearing officer treated Bailey's 1999 claim as an amendment of the 1997 claim and, to avoid any possible confusion on the issue, apparently gave Bailey two more years from the October 13, 1999, controversion to request a hearing. As a result, Bailey had until October 13, 2001, to request a hearing on the 1997 and 1999 claims. Nonetheless, Bailey failed to request a hearing until July 5, 2002, well past the two-year statute of limitations. If subsection .110(c) applies to these claims and is valid, both Bailey's 1997 and 1999 claims were properly dismissed. Bailey's 2001 claim, in contrast, should not have been dismissed. The 2001 claim sought compensation for medical expenses  physician services and prescription medications  that were incurred after Bailey filed his 1997 claim. Bailey did not simply re-file the 1997 claim in 2001; rather, he sought compensation for different expenses. Because the 2001 claim was independent of the 1997 and 1999 claim, and because Bailey requested a hearing less than two years after Geophysical controverted his 2001 claim, the claim is not time-barred. It is true that Bailey apparently sought the same type of medication in each of his claims. But the fact that Geophysical succeeded in controverting the 1997 pharmacy bills because Bailey failed to file a timely request for a hearing does not mean that Bailey can never again claim reimbursement for narcotics or benzodiazepines. Under the terms of the 1988 settlement, Bailey reserved the right to claim future medical benefits and Geophysical reserved the right to controvert those claims as they were filed. Geophysical based its 1997 controversion on a report by an independent medical examiner who merely thought that Bailey's condition did not need to be treated with narcotics and benzodiazepines at the time of the independent medical exam. The independent examiner's report nowhere indicated that those medications were categorically inappropriate for Bailey's condition or that Bailey would never again need to use them in the future. Thus, even assuming that a dismissal under subsection.110(c) might have a preclusive effect in some situations, here the 1997 and 1999 controversions do not preclude Bailey from bringing future claims for narcotics and benzodiazepines. [9] In summary, if the two-year time limit in subsection .110(c) applies in this case and is valid, Geophysical successfully controverted Bailey's 1997 and 1999 claims and Bailey may not seek compensation for the pharmacy bills in those claims or for any other related expenses that he could have included in these earlier claims. But Bailey remains free to claim (and Geophysical remains free to controvert) compensation for subsequent medical care and medications, including prescriptions for narcotics and benzodiazepines. Bailey's 2001 claim did precisely that. Because Bailey requested a hearing on the 2001 claim well within the two-year statute of limitations, his 2001 claim could not be dismissed under subsection .110(c).