Opinion ID: 2559428
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Determination of Future Benefits

Text: [¶ 13] We last considered issues associated with calculation of workers' compensation liens in McKeeman, 2002 ME 144, 804 A.2d 406. That case concerned an employee who had died from a work-related accident. Id. ¶ 2, 804 A.2d at 407. His widow and their son began receiving workers' compensation death benefits from the employer. Id. The widow brought a third-party action against Cianbro Corporation, which resulted in a settlement with a present value of $970,000. Id. The employer intervened in the third-party action and moved to enforce its lien pursuant to section 107. Id. ¶ 4, 804 A.2d at 408. The trial court established the lien amount based on the statutorily-fixed death benefits that are available to the survivors of an employee who dies from a work related injury. [4] Id. ¶ 5, 804 A.2d at 408. The widow's appeal presented the question of how to determine the employer's proportionate share of the costs of settlement for purposes of applying section 107. Id. ¶ 6, 804 A.2d at 408. We held: [A]n employer's proportionate share of fees and costs upon an employee's settlement with a third party should be calculated with reference both to past benefits paid and future liability relieved, to the extent that it can be determined. Id. ¶ 17, 804 A.2d at 411 (emphasis added). In a footnote to this sentence, we recognize[d] that, unlike the definite nature of death benefits payments as in this case, the determination of future liability to employers will often be a difficult process requiring a significant factual inquiry. Id. ¶ 17 n. 5, 804 A.2d at 411. [¶ 14] This case is the kind of difficult case that McKeeman anticipated. Although the Superior Court was required to assess the Trust's future liability relieved, it was provided virtually no reliable evidence by either party with which to do so. Dennis's sole witness was an attorney who practices in the areas of workers' compensation law, social security law, and personal injury law. The court excluded the witness's opinion regarding Dennis's work capacity and the value of the future workers' compensation benefits to which Dennis would be entitled, reasoning that the attorney lacked qualifications to render a disability assessment and to forecast the resulting workers' compensation benefits that might result. The court acted well within its discretion in excluding this opinion testimony. An expert witness's opinion may be excluded under Rule 702 if the court finds that it is not within the expert's specialized knowledge. State v. MacDonald, 1998 ME 212, ¶ 7, 718 A.2d 195, 198. Such was the case here. [¶ 15] The Trust offered no witnesses or exhibits on the issue of the future liability for which it has been relieved as a result of Dennis's settlement with Cedarapids. The record does suggest that the Trust had voluntarily paid benefits to Dennis up until the completion of the settlement, and had petitioned the Workers' Compensation Board to determine Dennis's entitlement to benefits due to its claim that Dennis has refused a bona fide offer of employment. Dennis had contested the petition, denying that he has refused any such bona fide offer. See 39-A M.R.S. § 214(1)(A) (2009). [5] The proceeding before the Board was still pending at the time of the trial in the Superior Court, and the record suggests that it had been stayed at Dennis's request pending the entry of a judgment in the lien action. [6] [¶ 16] The Superior Court was fully justified in concluding that the evidence before it was insufficient to permit a judicial determination of the Trust's future liability relieved by the settlement. Without a decision by the Board and without evidence presented by either party of the nature and extent of Dennis's entitlement to future benefits in a case in which the employee claims to suffer from permanent incapacity, determining the Trust's future liability relieved was not simply difficult, it was destined to be fruitless. The question remains: what consequences flow from this failure of proof?