Fort Howard Corp. v. Smartwood
Fort Howard Corp. v. Smartwood
Opinion of the Court
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Employer and insurer appeal a Workers’ Compensation Court order which awarded Claimant permanent partial disability payments due to a back injury. The only issue raised and briefed on appeal is that Claimant did not give notice of the injury to Employer within 60 days as required by 85 O.S.1993 Supp. § 24.2. The three-judge review panel affirmed the order of the trial court.
Claimant’s Form 3, filed February 16, 1995, alleged a back injury on July 24, 1994. The parties agree that an Amended Form 3 alleged June 6, 1994, as the date of injury. The medical records admitted into evidence indicate Claimant was seen on June 28,1994, in the emergency room of the Muskogee Hospital and was referred to an orthopedic surgeon whom he first saw on July 8, 1994.
This Court has recently construed the applicable language of 85 O.S.1998 Supp. § 24.2(A)
The same can be said of the instant case. Notice is not required where medical treatment is received within sixty days of the injury. There is competent evidence that Claimant suffered a work-related injury on June 6,1994. There is no dispute that medical treatment was received within sixty days thereafter. Under these circumstances, the lack of actual notice to Employer is irrelevant.
Employer’s argument for reversal based on the lack of notice is rejected and the order below is accordingly SUSTAINED.
. "Unless an employee gives oral or written notice to the employer within sixty (60) days of the date an injury occurs or the employee receives medical attention from a licensed physician during the sixty-day period from the date an injury occurred, the claim shall be forever barred, unless, in the discretion of the trial judge, good cause is shown by the employee to the Court to excuse such failure of notice or treatment. ****’’ 85 O.S.1993 Supp. § 24.2(A).
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.