Opinion ID: 1263590
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Authority to Apportion

Text: EBI argues the Court of Appeals erred in finding the Commission has the authority to apportion liability for Claimant's second injury and to order EBI to pay benefits related to the second injury when EBI did not provide coverage for Employer on the date of the second injury. We agree. A successive-carrier problem occurs when a worker suffers successive workplace injuries with an intervening change of employers or change of insurance carriers by the same employer. 9 Larson's Workers' Compensation Law § 153.01[1] (2005). There are two possible solutions to the successive-carrier problem. The apportionment solution has been adopted by many jurisdictions. [1] The leading case establishing apportionment, Anderson v. Babcock & Wilcox Co., 256 N.Y. 146, 175 N.E. 654, 655 (1931), explains the rationale for the approach: Unjust it is that the second insurer should bear the entire liability when the second accident was related in large measure to the first. No less unjust it is that the first insurer should bear the entire liability if it appears that without the second accident an earlier recovery might have been had. The problem with this approach is that it is complicated by statutes of limitations, out-of-state employers, and the difficulty of determining the proportion of liability attributable to each insurer. 9 Larson's Workers' Compensation Law at § 153.01[2]. South Carolina has neither statute nor case law authorizing the apportionment of workers' compensation benefits in successive injury cases. [2] The second solution to the successive-carrier problem is called the last injurious exposure rule and it is the majority rule. [3] Id. at § 153.02[1]. This rule places full liability upon the carrier covering the risk at the time of the most recent injury that bears a causal relation to the disability. Id. Consistent with the rule that an employer takes its employee as it finds her, the last injurious exposure rule makes the insurer at risk at the time of the second injury liable even if the second injury would have been much less severe in the absence of the prior condition and even if the prior injury significantly contributed to the final condition. Id. at § 153.02[2]. However, if the second injury is merely a recurrence of the first injury, then the insurer on the risk at the time of the original injury remains liable for the second. Id. at § 153.02[4]. The benefit of the last injurious exposure rule is it provides a reasonably equitable approach to compensation problems in the multi-employer context which is simple, easy to administer, and avoids the difficulties associated with apportionment. 82 Am.Jur.2d Workers' Compensation § 200 (2003). While South Carolina has not expressly adopted the last injurious exposure rule, both statutory and case law favor adopting the rule rather than the apportionment solution. First, S.C.Code Ann. § 42-9-430 (1985) favors placing sole liability on a single insurer. It states: Whenever a dispute arises between two or more parties as to which party is liable for the payment of workers' compensation benefits to an injured employee pursuant to the provisions of this title and there is no genuine issue of material fact as to the employee's employment, his average weekly wage, the occurrence of an injury, the extent of the injury, and the fact that the injury arose out of and in the scope of the employment, the hearing commissioner may, in his discretion, require the disputing parties involved to pay benefits immediately to the employee and to share equally in the payment of those benefits until it is determined which party is solely liable, at which time the liable party must reimburse all other parties for the benefits they have paid to the employee.... Second, 25A S.C.Code Ann. Regs. 67-409 (1976) instructs the Commission to presume the policy with the later effective date is in force when duplicate or dual coverage exists by reason of two different insurance carriers issuing two policies to the same employer securing the same liability. Finally, a number of cases have applied a version of the last injurious exposure rule and declined to follow the apportionment rule when dealing with occupational diseases. See Glenn v. Columbia Silica Sand Co., 236 S.C. 13, 112 S.E.2d 711 (1960); Hanks v. Blair Mills, Inc., 286 S.C. 378, 335 S.E.2d 91 (Ct.App.1985); Hargrove, 360 S.C. 276, 599 S.E.2d 604. Since South Carolina has adopted neither the apportionment rule nor the last injurious exposure rule, this case presents a novel issue of law. In the absence of authority permitting apportionment and because existing statutory authority expresses a preference for holding a single insurer liable rather than apportioning liability among multiple insurers, we adopt the last injurious exposure rule. Applying this rule, we find the Court of Appeals erred in apportioning liability for Claimant's second injury. [4]