Court Opinion

ID: 9790391
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 01:52:27.85615+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:37:29.335297
License: Public Domain

BUTTLER, J.,
specially concurring.
Although I concur with the majority’s result, I do so for very different reasons, and the reasons are important ones. The majority affirms the Board, because it concludes that ORS 656.210(3) does not apply to aggravation claims.
Clearly, it does. It provides that no temporary total disability payment is recoverable during the first three days “after the worker leaves work as a result of the compensable injury, unless the total disability continues for a period of 14 days or the worker is an inpatient in a hospital.” An aggravation is a worsened condition “resulting from the original injury[,]” ORS 656.273(1), rather than a new injury. If a worker leaves work as a result of a worsening, he “leaves work as a result of the compensable injury.” ORS 656.210(3). In other words, the worsening is a continuation of the original compensable injury, see Drews v. EBI Companies, 310 Or 134, 795 P2d 531 (1990), and, for that reason, the five-year aggravation period is not extended. Therefore, ORS 656.210(3) is applicable.
The only real question presented by the parties and by the Board’s decision is whether a worker who leaves work as a result of an aggravation of a compensable injury is entitled to temporary total disability compensation for the first three days if the total disability does not continue for a period of 14 days or he is not an inpatient in a hospital. The answer is no, unless the worker fulfills one of those requirements either following the original compensable injury or following an aggravation of that injury. In either case, the severity of the injury will have been established for the purposes of the statute.
In this case, claimant was totally disabled for more than 14 days as a result of his original compensable injury and received total disability compensation for all days during *501which he was off work at that time. Therefore, he has fulfilled the literal requirements of the statute and is entitled to temporary total disability compensation for all of the days that he was totally disabled as a result of his compensable injury, including those that resulted from the aggravation. That is what the Board held, and it is right.
Accordingly, I would affirm for those reasons.
Joseph, C. J., and Newman and Riggs, JJ., join in this concurring opinion.