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South v. Transportation Ins. Co.3/18/1996
Rehearing Denied April 11, 1996.
53 St.Rep. 196
Submitted on Briefs January 4, 1996.
Appellant Suzanne E. South (South) appeals the decision of the Montana Workers' Compensation Court denying her petition to rescind a settlement agreement arising from her 1986 back injury. We reverse.
The sole issue on appeal is whether the Workers' Compensation Court erred in refusing to rescind the settlement agreement.
FACTS
South sustained an on-the-job injury to her back in 1986. She underwent back surgery in late 1986 and again in 1988 to alleviate her back problems. Both surgeries were on the "L5/S1" level of her spine. In 1990, she entered into a full and final compromise settlement agreement with her insurer. The settlement agreement provided a list of seven jobs which both parties felt were acceptable for South to do, and which were approved as appropriate by a doctor. One of the approved jobs was that of massage therapist. After accepting and signing the settlement agreement, South moved to Seattle in order to begin massage therapist training. Shortly after beginning the program, however, South began to experience worsening back pain, for which she consulted a Seattle area doctor. When her back pain did not abate, South quit the massage training program and returned to Montana.
In 1994, South underwent a third surgery on her back, at the "L4-5" level of the spine. She subsequently petitioned the Workers' Compensation Court to rescind the settlement agreement, alleging that both parties were operating under a mutual mistake of fact when it was signed. After trial, the Workers' Compensation Court denied South's petition and declined to rescind the settlement agreement. In so doing, the Workers' Compensation Court pointed out that the current problem area in South's back is different than the area injured in her 1986 on-the-job accident. The Workers' Compensation Court further cited testimony given by South's doctor, who stated that "something new" must have happened around 1991 to cause the re-injury. On this basis, the Workers' Compensation Court found that the parties were not operating under a mutual mistake regarding the nature or extent of South's injuries at the time the settlement agreement was reached. It therefore refused to rescind the settlement agreement, and South appeals.
ISSUE
Did the District Court err in refusing to rescind the settlement agreement?
STANDARD OF REVIEW
We review the Workers' Compensation Court's findings of fact to determine whether substantial credible evidence supports the findings. Strickland v. State Comp. Mut. Ins. Fund (1995), [273 Mont. 254], 901 P.2d 1391, 1393 (citing Wunderlich v. Lumbermen's Mutual Casualty Co. (1995), 270 Mont. 404, 892 P.2d 563). We review the Workers' Compensation Court's conclusions of law to determine whether they are correct. Strickland, 901 P.2d at 1393 (citing Glaude v. State Comp. Mut. Ins. Fund (1995), 271 Mont. 136, 894 P.2d 940).
DISCUSSION
South alleges that the settlement agreement should be set aside because both parties were mutually mistaken regarding the propriety of "massage therapist" as a career for someone who had suffered a back injury. She contends that the settlement agreement should be rescinded because of this mutual mistake. The Workers' Compensation Court, however, found that no mistake had been made regarding the nature or extent of South's injury at the time that the settlement agreement was entered into, and therefore declined to rescind it.
Full and final settlement agreements are cont
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