State Accident Insurance Fund Corp. v. Casteel
State Accident Insurance Fund Corp. v. Casteel
Opinion of the Court
Claimant compensably injured her back and hip. A referee awarded permanent total disability. SAIF requested Board review, and the Board reduced the award to 10 percent unscheduled permanent partial disability. Claimant requested review by this court, and we modified the Board’s order and granted claimant an award of 50 percent unscheduled permanent partial disability. Casteel v. SAIF, 55 Or App 474, 638 P2d 1165 (1982). The issue is whether SAIF is entitled to credit the amounts paid pursuant to the referee’s award of permanent total disability against the final award of 50 percent unscheduled permanent partial disability. The Board held that ORS 656.313(2) prohibits recovery, by offset or other means, of amounts paid pending review.
ORS 656.313 provides:
“(1) Filing by an employer or the insurer of a request for review or court appeal shall not stay payment of compensation to a claimant.
“(2) If the board or court subsequently orders that compensation to the claimant should not have been allowed or should have been awarded in a lesser amount than awarded, the claimant shall not be obligated to repay any such compensation which was paid pending the review or appeal.” (Emphasis supplied.)
OAR 436-54-320 governed the recovery of overpayments of benefits:
“Insurers and self insured employers may recover over payment of benefits paid to worker on an accepted claim from benefits which are or may become payable on that claim. Payment of benefits paid during appeal pursuant to ORS 656.313 shall not be recoverable under this section. ” (Emphasis supplied.)
In Bekins Moving and Storage Co. v. Jordan, 68 Or App 57, 680 P2d 392 (1984), we affirmed, per curiam, the Board’s denial of the employer’s request to offset permanent total disability benefits paid claimant pending Board review against the permanent partial disability benefits awarded.
Affirmed.
The administrative rule was in effect at the times relevant to this appeal. The current administrative rule is renumbered OAR 436-60-170 and the quoted language has been deleted.
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting.
I would hold that SAIF is entitled to credit amounts paid, pending the appeal, on the permanent total disbility awarded by the referee against the final award of 50 percent permanent partial disability. Therefore, I respectfully dissent.
This case involves a single claim and a single final award of permanent disability. The referee awarded claimant permanent total disability. SAIF requested review. Pending review, SAIF paid benefits. ORS 656.313(1). By the time this court finally fixed the permanent disability award at 50 percent, SAIF had paid less than the 50 percent which we awarded. SAIF seeks credit for that amount.
I see a clear distinction between requiring a claimant to give back benefits already received and allowing a carrier to have a credit for benefits paid. The former takes money out of a claimant’s pocket — money that the claimant has probably
SAIF concedes that, had it already paid more than the 50 percent finally awarded, it would not have been able to recoup the excess payments. ORS 656.313(2).
Reference
- Full Case Name
- In the Matter of the Compensation of Katherine E. Casteel, Claimant. STATE ACCIDENT INSURANCE FUND CORP., Petitioner, v. CASTEEL, Respondent
- Cited By
- 4 cases
- Status
- Published