Appeal of Jamar

756 A.2d 1006, 145 N.H. 152, 2000 N.H. LEXIS 35
CourtSupreme Court of New Hampshire
DecidedJuly 17, 2000
DocketNo. 99-021
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 756 A.2d 1006 (Appeal of Jamar) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of New Hampshire primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Appeal of Jamar, 756 A.2d 1006, 145 N.H. 152, 2000 N.H. LEXIS 35 (N.H. 2000).

Opinion

NADEAU, J.

The petitioners, JAMAR d/b/a Dunkin Donuts and its workers’ compensation insurance carrier, Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, appeal a 1997 decision by the New Hampshire Compensation Appeals Board (board) granting the respondent, Elizabeth Farley, a rehearing before the board. The petitioners concede that at the rehearing the board had sufficient evidence to support its finding that the respondent’s repetitive use of a cream dispensing machine at work caused carpal tunnel syndrome in her right hand and wrist. Thus, the sole issue on appeal is whether the board had authority to grant a rehearing to review its initial conclusion regarding the nature of the respondent’s injury. We affirm.

The respondent applied for workers’ compensation benefits, which were denied by the petitioners. After a hearing before the department of labor, the hearing officer concluded that she was not entitled to workers’ compensation benefits. She appealed to the board, see RSA 281-A:43, I(b) (1999), and was granted a hearing on March 15, 1996. At this hearing, the respondent argued, among other things, that her carpal tunnel syndrome was caused by repetitive use of the cream dispensing machine. Five months after the hearing, the board denied the respondent’s appeal without addressing her repetitive-use argument. The board’s decision stated only that the claimant had “failed to establish that her [carpal tunnel syndrome] was related to her slip and fall at work on December 23, 1993.”

On August 23, 1996, the respondent timely moved for rehearing, see RSA 541:3 (1997), which the board denied on November 21, 1996. Four days after the supreme court thirty-day appeal period had expired, see RSA 281-A:43, I(c) (1999); RSA 541:6 (1997), the respondent sent a letter to the department of labor expressing [154]*154dissatisfaction with the board’s decision and requesting that it reconsider its denial of her motion. The letter alleged that the board “simply failed to deal with the matter in controversy,” due, in part, to the five months that had elapsed between the hearing and the decision. The letter also indicated that the respondent had not appealed the board’s decision because of financial constraints.

On February '3, 1997, the board reversed its prior denial of the respondent’s request for a rehearing. After the rehearing, the board found in favor of the respondent, reversing its prior decision. The petitioners unsuccessfully moved for a rehearing and filed the instant appeal.

The petitioners argue that the board erred by granting the rehearing because: (1) the respondent did not timely appeal, and thus, the board’s earlier decision was final and binding; (2) the board violated the New Hampshire Department of Labor rules by granting the rehearing; (3) the board lacked jurisdiction to grant the rehearing; and (4) the board’s earlier denial collaterally estopped the respondent from relitigating the causal relationship between her injury and her employment.

“We will overturn the board’s decision only for errors of law, or if we are satisfied by a clear preponderance of the evidence before us that the order is unjust or unreasonable.” Appeal of Wausau Ins. Cos., 143 N.H. 478, 480, 727 A.2d 988, 989 (1999) (quotation omitted).

Under the Workers’ Compensation Law, unless a party appeals to the supreme court, the decision of the board shall become final thirty, days after the application for a rehearing is denied. See RSA 281-A:43, II (1999 & Supp. 1999); RSA 541:6. “In view of the practical protective function of workers’ compensation, the desirability. of preserving a right to reopen for genuine mistake seems too self-evident for argument.” 8 A. LARSON & L. LARSON, LARSON’S WORKERS’ COMPENSATION LAW § 131.05[2][b], at 131-60 (2000). Consequently, the finality of RSA 281-A:43, II is not absolute. Rather, our legislature has included a provision in the Workers’ Compensation Law — RSA 281-A:48 (1999) — that specifically serves to “preserv[e] a right to reopen for genuine mistake.” Id.

RSA 281-A:48, I, provides that within a specified time period, any party at interest may petition the commissioner of labor (commissioner) to review á denial or an award of compensation on the basis of, among other things, a “mistake as to the nature or extent of the injury or disability.”

In Johnson v. Aetna Life & Casualty Co., 131 N.H. 698, 702, 559 A.2d 838, 84.1 (1989) (decided under prior law), we held that [155]*155while, generally, the commissioner has “no jurisdiction to modify an award it has previously rendered” if the award is final under RSA 281:37, II (predecessor to RSA 281-A:43, II), RSA 281:40 (predecessor to RSA 281-A:48) provides an “exception” to such finality. See also Laws 1988, 194:1 (legislature’s intent in enacting RSA chapter 281-A was to preserve the content of RSA chapter 281). Thus, although the board’s decision becomes final thirty days after the board denies the motion for rehearing, see RSA 281-A:43, II, we hold that RSA 281-A:48 provides an exception to the finality otherwise accorded board decisions. See Johnson, 131 N.H. at 702, 559 A.2d at 841.

While RSA 281-A:48 provides that a party may petition the commissioner to review a decision for mistake, a de novo appeal from an adverse decision by the commissioner can be taken to the board. See RSA 281-A:48, V, :42-a, I (1999). We consider whether RSA 281-A:48 provides the board with the authority to review a decision for mistake in the first instance when the mistake is alleged to have been committed by the board.

In this case, the board was certainly in the best position to review the respondent’s petition because the petition alleged that the board had inadvertently failed to consider one of her arguments. Requiring that the commissioner first conduct a hearing and issue an order on the question of whether the board made a mistake before permitting review by the board itself would be inefficient.

In addition to furthering the purpose of judicial economy, allowing the board to review its own mistake in the first instance is consistent with the purpose of the Workers’ Compensation Law, which is “to afford employees a sure remedy when they are injured on the job and to provide for a fair resolution of disputed claims.” Buyer v. Abundant Life Farm, Inc., 127 N.H. 345, 348, 499 A.2d 1011, 1012 (1985) (decided under prior law). Moreover, we construe the Workers’ Compensation Law liberally, “resolving all reasonable doubts in statutory construction in favor of the injured employee in order to give the broadest reasonable effect to its remedial purpose.” Appeal of Rainville, 143 N.H. 624, 627, 732 A.2d 406, 410 (1999) (quotation omitted).

Finally, because the legislature cannot anticipate all of the problems incidental to the carrying out of administrative duties, administrative entities generally have the implied or incidental powers reasonably necessary to carry out the powers expressly granted to them. See 2 AM. JUR. 2D Administrative Law § 62, at 83-84 (1994). When the mistake is alleged to have been committed by [156]

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Bluebook (online)
756 A.2d 1006, 145 N.H. 152, 2000 N.H. LEXIS 35, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/appeal-of-jamar-nh-2000.