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Tom Growney Equipment Co. v. Jouett5/20/2005
r, the Act does contain a provision regarding the reduction of benefits that would duplicate previous benefits. Section 52-1-47(D) provides that the compensation benefits payable by reason of disability caused by accidental injury shall be reduced by the compensation benefits paid or payable on account of any prior injury suffered by the worker if compensation benefits in both instances are for injury to the same member or function or different parts of the same member or function or for disfigurement and if the compensation benefits payable on account of the subsequent injury would, in whole or in part, duplicate the benefits paid or payable on account of such prior injury.
"Section 52-1-47(D) `is not merely a device for preventing a double recovery. It is an affirmative allocation of the burden in a successive injuries situation.'" Garcia, 112 N.M. at 603, 817 P.2d at 1245 (quoted authority omitted).
{43} We note that this section does not limit its application in terms of employers; thus, it is presumably applicable to a single employer or insurer, as well as subsequent employers and subsequent insurers. Stated another way, an employer could reduce compensation payments for a current disability if that employer previously paid disability to the employee for injury to the same member if the compensation would otherwise duplicate the benefits the employer paid on account of the prior injury. Section 52-1-47(D) authorizes a reduction in benefits paid by the current employer or insurer only when previous "compensation benefits paid or payable on account of any prior injury" "would, in whole or in part, duplicate the benefits paid or payable on account of such prior injury." As discussed below, based on Section 52-1-47(D) as well as New Mexico precedent, a reduction of payments for the current employer, initially responsible for all disability compensation to a worker disabled by a work-related injury in compliance with requirements of the Act, is authorized only where the worker has suffered a prior work-related accident for which the initial employer or insurer paid or must pay on account of the prior injury. Thus, Section 52-1-47(D) is operative where an employer or insurer has paid or must pay a worker for medical benefits or disability compensation for a prior accidental injury when the worker has suffered an aggravation or later injury to the "same member or function" and "the compensation benefits payable on account of the subsequent injury would, in whole or in part, duplicate the benefits paid or payable on account of such prior injury." We believe that this interpretation of Section 52-1-47(D) is consistent with the plain language of the statute, legislative intent, and our precedent.
{44} In Stanke-Brown, the Court of Appeals discussed a hypothetical situation in which a worker "suffers an accidental injury resulting in a 50 percent partial disability and compensation benefits are paid on the basis of that disability" and then the worker suffers " subsequent accidental injury [that] results in a 100 percent disability" where " he subsequent accidental injury aggravated the pre-existing condition and caused disability." 98 N.M. at 386, 648 P.2d at 1199. The Court noted that, under Reynolds, "the employer and compensation carrier for the subsequent accident are liable for the 100 percent disability," but that because it was not an issue in Reynolds, that case did not address "what happened to the liability of the employer and compensation carrier for the pre-existing 50 percent disability." Id. The Court of Appeals then discussed the applicability of Section 52-1-47(D) and concluded that
he employer and compensation carrier at the time of the first accidental inj
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