Opinion ID: 2328263
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Mooers

Text: Richard L. Mooers suffered a compensable injury to his lower back on October 2, 1989. On October 5, 1989, while en route to a chiropractic office for treatment related to the injury, Mooers suffered a second injury resulting from a car accident. The employer, Augusta Auto Mall, accepted liability for both injuries. Mooers subsequently obtained a settlement against a third party for the car accident in the amount of $45,000. In 1993 the Board granted Augusta Auto Mall's petition to enforce a lien against the third-party settlement and awarded an offset against the entire settlement amount (net of attorney fees). Like Nichols, Mooers urged the Board to allocate a portion of the settlement to his spouse's loss of consortium claim. Mooers provided the Board with a copy of the written settlement agreement which contained no express allocation to lost consortium. Mooers contended that his wife's signature on the agreement suggested that the settlement was made, in part, for loss of consortium. The Board declined to apportion the lien, finding that Mooers failed to meet his burden of proof to show an allocation or to provide a basis for determining the amount of the loss of consortium claim. Mooers contends that, as the nonmoving party, it was error for the Commission to shift the burden of proof to the employee on this issue. We note that while the general rule is to place the burden of proof on the moving party, workers' compensation law recognizes exceptions when placing the burden on the moving party is impractical or unreasonable. See e.g., Ibbitson v. Sheridan Corp., 422 A.2d 1005, 1011 (Me.1980) (once the employer shows that a totally incapacitated employee has regained some physical capacity on a petition for review, the employee has the burden of production on the issue of work search); Fecteau v. Rich Vale Constr., 349 A.2d 162, 166 (Me.1975) (presumption that post-injury earnings accurately reflect earning capacity); Moriarty's Case, 126 Me. 358, 361, 138 A. 555, 556-7 (1927) (presumption against finding suicidal death); Mailman's Case, 118 Me. 172, 181-3, 106 A. 606, 610-11 (1919) (inference that fatality results from work related injury; later codified in 39 M.R.S.A. § 64-A (1989)). Because the employer is typically not a party to the thirdparty settlement and has no control of or access to evidence of personal damages related to that claim, common sense militates against placing the burden on the employer to prove that no portion of a third-party settlement is allocable to a spouse's loss of consortium. We conclude that it was not error for the Board to require Mooers to bear the burden of proof on this issue, and we also conclude that, in the absence of an express allocation in a settlement agreement or a judicial determination of the amount of the consortium claim, it was not error for the Board to refuse to allocate a portion of the lien to loss of consortium. Mooers raises a second issue concerning whether the employer can apply a section 68 lien to offset liability for two successive injuries when only the second injury was attributable to a third-party tort. We note that, pursuant to the plain language of section 68, the employer is only entitled to a lien against the third party liable for the injury. 39 M.R.S.A. § 68 (1989). We conclude that, because there is no third party responsible for the first injury, Augusta Auto Mall should not be entitled to look to the settlement for reimbursement for that injury. Our holding is consistent with the legislative purposes of section 68 which are (i) to give the injured worker the benefit of the greater of any tort recovery and any workers' compensation award, (ii) to relieve the carrier of the compensation burden that the third party's fault has caused it to shoulder, and (iii) to prevent either a double recovery by the employee or an immunity for the third party tortfeasor. Overend v. Elan I Corp., 441 A.2d 311, 314 (Me.1982) (emphasis added); see also Liberty Mutual Ins. Co. v. Weeks, 404 A.2d 1006, 1009 (Me.1979). We find no legislative intent to allow an employer to offset liability for a work injury when, by mere fortuity, the employee suffers a subsequent work injury resulting from a third party's negligence. See Drypolcher v. New York Tel. Co., 85 A.D.2d 895, 446 N.Y.S.2d 728, 729 (1981); Industrial Comm'n v. Standard Ins. Co., 149 Colo. 587, 370 P.2d 156, 158 (1962); Heaton v. Kerlan, 27 Cal.2d 716, 166 P.2d 857, 861 (1946). See generally, 2A A. Larson, The Law of Workmen's Compensation §§ 72.65, 74.31(c)(1) (1993). Accordingly, we hold that section 68 requires the hearing officer to determine the percentage of the employee's incapacity that is attributable to each injury and to award a lien against the third-party recovery only for those benefits paid or payable for that portion of the employee's incapacity for which the third party is responsible. The entry is: The decision of the Workers' Compensation Board in Nichols v. Cantara & Sons, WCB-93-262 is affirmed. The decision of the Workers' Compensation Board in Mooers v. Augusta Auto Mall, WCB-93-837 is vacated. Remanded to the Workers' Compensation Board for further proceedings consistent with the opinion herein. All concurring.