Opinion ID: 885192
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: physical restriction

Text: ¶ 77 The court ruled that S.L.H. was restricted to light-duty activity and that because her time-of-injury job had been a medium-duty position, she suffered a ten percent physical restriction. The court awarded a twenty percent penalty pursuant to § 39-71-2907, MCA, after finding that the State Fund unreasonably delayed determination of S.L.H.'s physical restriction. However, because the State Fund conceded the restriction issue prior to trial, albeit apparently on the courthouse steps, the court could not assess attorney fees against the State Fund. ¶ 78 The record supports the finding that the State Fund conceded the issue prior to trial. S.L.H., the judge, and the State Fund all refer to the ten percent restriction as conceded prior to the commencement of the trial. We therefore affirm the Workers' Compensation Court's ruling that attorney fees could not be awarded on the restriction issue. J.A. TURNAGE, C.J., JIM REGNIER, TERRY N. TRIEWEILER, JAMES C. NELSON, and KARLA M. GRAY, JJ., concur. Justice WILLIAM E. HUNT, Sr., did not participate.