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Tom Growney Equipment Co. v. Jouett5/20/2005
ury remain liable for compensation benefits payable for disability resulting therefrom. The employer and compensation carrier at the time of the second accidental injury are initially liable for disability resulting from the second accidental injury, to the full extent of the disability. Liability for disability resulting from the second accidental injury is reduced to the extent of benefits paid or payable for disability resulting from the first accidental injury if the requirements of [Section] 52-1-47(D) are met.
Id. "` enefits for the subsequent injury may not duplicate benefits paid or payable for the prior injury. It is the overlap in benefits to which the reduction applies.'" Id. at 387, 648 P.2d at 1200 (quoted authority omitted, alteration in original). Thus, Stanke-Brown's analysis applies when there is disability and compensation paid or payable for that disability for an initial injury.
{45} Although involving the later repealed Subsequent Injury Act, the Court of Appeals instructively discussed Stanke-Brown and Section 52-1-47(D) in Lea County Good Samaritan Village v. Wojcik, 108 N.M. 76, 766 P.2d 920 (Ct. App. 1988). Based on Stanke-Brown and Section 52-1-47(D), "if an employee has previously sustained a compensable injury under the Workers' Compensation Act and has been awarded benefits and thereafter suffers a subsequent injury involving the same members or functions, . . . the employer at the time of the second accident . . . [is not] liable for any impairment for which the worker has already been compensated." Wojcik, 108 N.M. at 81, 766 P.2d at 925 (emphasis added). Thus, Section 52-1-47(D) operates only where the worker received benefits for the initial injury and subsequently suffers a work-related injury to the same member or function and benefits for the subsequent injury would duplicate benefits paid or payable for the initial injury.
{46} Under Stanke-Brown, the employer at the time of the second or subsequent accidental injury is initially liable for the "full extent of the disability," and then the current employer's liability is "reduced to the extent of benefits paid or payable for disability resulting from the first accidental injury." 98 N.M. at 386, 648 P.2d at 1199. Applying Section 52-1-47(D) and the analysis of Stanke-Brown to the present matter, Big Dog and its insurer, as the employer and compensation carrier at the time of the subsequent accidental injury resulting in disability, are initially potentially liable for disability resulting from the subsequent accidental injury, to the full extent of the disability. Big Dog's potential liability for Jouett's disability can be reduced under Section 52-1-47(D) only to the extent of disability benefits paid or payable by Growney Equipment or Patterson Drilling resulting from the first or prior accidental injuries.
{47} In order for Growney Equipment or Patterson Drilling to be liable for any portion of disability compensation or medical benefits under Section 52-1-47(D), in addition to any other requirements with the Workers' Compensation Act, these employers must be responsible for "compensation benefits paid or payable on account of any prior injury suffered by the worker ." Jouett must have previously complied with all requirements of the Act and received medical or disability benefits paid or payable by Growney Equipment or Patterson Drilling for his prior injury for which current benefits would be duplicative.
{48} Patterson Drilling argues that it is not responsible for either medical benefits or disability compensation by operation of the notice statute as well as the statute of limitations. Patterson Drilling recognizes that Stanke-Brown held that the worker's employer
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