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King Manufacturing v. Meadows11/1/2005
__ P.3d __
The primary issue presented is whether a workers compensation award for a change in condition is subject to statutory limits in effect at the time of the initial injury or when the change in condition is discovered. Title 85 O.S. Supp. 1995 §22(7), the statute in effect when the change in condition in the present cause was discovered, limits the sum of all permanent partial disability awards to 100% for an individual. The 100% limits are absent from the version of §22(7), which was in effect at the time of the initial injury. We are also asked to determine whether appeal-related attorney fees should be awarded because the appeal was frivolous.
We hold that: 1) an award of permanent disability for a change in condition is governed by the statutory language in effect at the time of the initial injury; and 2) appeal-related attorney fees are not warranted.
UNDISPUTED FACTS
On May 8, 1992, the respondent, Darrell Meadows (employee) was injured in a work related accident while working for King Manufacturing (employer) in Duncan, Oklahoma. The employee injured his arm, shoulders, chest, neck, and leg, when he and two co-workers attempted to carry a 600 pound pipe.
On February 1, 1995, the workers compensation court determined that the employee had sustained a 57% permanent partial disability to the body as a whole, and that impairment was added to previously-adjudicated impairments of 59% resulting in a total sum of 116%. On July 27, 1995, the workers compensation court awarded the employee permanent total disability against the Special Indemnity Fund.
By June 4, 1996, the employee became aware that his condition had deteriorated. Consequently, on September 13, 1996, he filed a motion, requesting additional benefits due to the change in condition. Various hearings and orders culminated in an order from the workers' compensation court filed September 10, 2003, in which the employee's request for a determination of additional impairment was denied. The court held that: 1) the law governing reopening of claims for a change in condition is the law in effect when a change in condition is discovered, rather than the law in effect at the time of the original injury or at the time of the original award; and 2) pursuant to the law in effect when the change in condition was discovered, 85 O.S. Supp. 1995 §22(7), the sum of all of the employee's permanent partial disability awards could not exceed 100%.
On December 1, 2003, a three-judge panel of the workers' compensation court reversed the trial court and ordered it to apply the law in effect at the time of the original injury without regard to the 100% limit. On May 5, 2004, the workers' compensation court awarded the employee additional compensation for impairment based upon the change of condition. The employer appealed. The Court of Civil Appeals vacated and reversed the trial court. We granted certiorari on June 20, 2005.
I. AN AWARD OF PERMANENT DISABILITY FOR A CHANGE IN CONDITION IS GOVERNED BY THE STATUTORY LANGUAGE IN EFFECT AT THE TIME OF THE INITIAL INJURY
The employer argues that the statutory limits in effect at the time the employee's change in condition is discovered apply, and that the permanent partial disability award must be limited to a total of 100%. It finds support in two non-precedential opinions released for publication by the Court of Civil Appeals, Cable Vision of Muskogee v. Tracy, 1994 OK CIV APP 57, 876 P.2d 743 and Wolfenbarger v. Safeway Stores, Inc., 1990 OK CIV APP 65, 798 P.2d 1093.
The employee insists that, because the amount of benefits to which he is entitled affects a substant
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