Baker v. IGA Super Valu Food Store

990 So. 2d 254, 2008 WL 1797278
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedApril 22, 2008
Docket2007-WC-00305-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 990 So. 2d 254 (Baker v. IGA Super Valu Food Store) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Baker v. IGA Super Valu Food Store, 990 So. 2d 254, 2008 WL 1797278 (Mich. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

990 So.2d 254 (2008)

Charles P. BAKER, Appellant,
v.
IGA SUPER VALU FOOD STORE and Mississippi Insurance Guaranty Association, Appellees.

No. 2007-WC-00305-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

April 22, 2008.
Rehearing Denied July 22, 2008.
Certiorari Denied September 11, 2008.

*256 David M. Sessums, Vicksburg, attorney for appellant.

Andrew D. Sweat, Jennifer Hughes Scott, Jackson, attorneys for appellees.

Before KING, C.J., IRVING and CHANDLER, JJ.

KING, C.J., for the Court.

¶ 1. Charles P. Baker appeals from the Warren County Circuit Court's order affirming the Mississippi Workers' Compensation Commission's decision that Baker's claim for disability benefits and medical treatment was barred by the two-year statute of limitations. Finding no error, we affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ 2. Baker was employed with IGA Super Valu Food Store (Super Valu) as a manager in the meat department. On January 9, 2002, Baker injured his back while lifting boxes of meat at Super Valu. Baker immediately reported the injury and visited a doctor the next day. Super Valu and Mississippi Insurance Guaranty Association, collectively known as "the Employer," paid Baker's work-related medical expenses from the date of the accident until January 9, 2004. Baker claims he can no longer do any heavy lifting, and he has to take 30 milligrams of Morphine four times a day just to work and to function on a daily basis.

*257 ¶ 3. On March 25, 2004, Baker filed a petition to controvert with the Mississippi Workers' Compensation Commission (the Commission). The matter was heard on October 11, 2005. The administrative law judge ruled that the two-year statute of limitations applied, precluding Baker's claim for disability benefits and medical treatment after January 9, 2004. The Employer was ordered to pay any outstanding medical bills related to Baker's back injury that were incurred before January 9, 2004. Aggrieved, Baker petitioned to review the decision. The Commission affirmed the order, and Baker appealed to the Circuit Court of Warren County, which also affirmed the decision on February 13, 2007.

¶ 4. Baker now appeals the trial court's decision, raising the following issues: (1) whether the voluntary payment of medical benefits tolled the statute of limitations; (2) whether part of Baker's wages should be found in lieu of compensation, thereby tolling the statute of limitations; (3) whether Baker has yet to suffer a disability and/or injury, as defined under the workers' compensation statutes; and (4) whether the employer was estopped from asserting statute of limitations as a defense.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶ 5. An appellate court reviews the Commission's decision "for an error of law or an unsupportable finding of fact." Georgia Pacific Corp. v. Taplin, 586 So.2d 823, 826 (Miss.1991). The decision of an agency will not be overruled unless the decision: "1) was unsupported by substantial evidence, 2) was arbitrary or capricious, 3) was beyond the power of the administrative agency to make, or 4) violated some statutory or constitutional right of the complaining party." Miss. Sierra Club, Inc. v. Miss. Dep't of Envtl. Quality, 819 So.2d 515, 519(¶ 15) (Miss.2002). An appellate court uses "a de novo standard of review when passing on questions of law[,] including statute of limitations issues." Jordan v. Pace Head Start, 852 So.2d 28, 30(¶ 4) (Miss.Ct.App.2002).

ANALYSIS

I. Whether the voluntary payment of medical benefits tolled the statute of limitations.

¶ 6. Baker argues that voluntary payment of medical benefits tolled the statute of limitations as to current medical benefits, future medical benefits, and at least as the same relates to the payment of medical benefits. The Employer argues that the statute of limitations is not tolled because the statute expressly excludes the payment of medical benefits.

¶ 7. Baker relies on Graeber Brothers, Inc. v. Taylor to support his contention. Graeber, 237 Miss. 691, 115 So.2d 735 (1959). In Graeber, the supreme court focused on Mississippi Code section 6998-27 (Recomp.1942), currently codified under Mississippi Code Annotated section 71-3-53 (Rev.2000). Id. at 696, 115 So.2d at 737. This statute allows the Commission to review and change compensation up to one year after the last payment of compensation is made.[1] The supreme court held *258 that "a payment of medical expenses constitutes a `payment of compensation' for the purpose of tolling the one year statute of limitations, Code Section 6998-27." Graeber, 237 Miss. at 698, 115 So.2d 735 (suggestion of error overruled).

¶ 8. This argument is improper in this instance because a review and change of compensation is not at issue here. The Commission never ordered any form of compensation in Baker's case. Consequently, we are only concerned with Mississippi Code Annotated section 71-3-35(1), which addresses the right to compensation at all. Section 71-3-35(1) provides in pertinent part as follows:

[I]f no payment of compensation (other than medical treatment or burial expense) is made and no application for benefits filed with the commission within two years from the date of the injury or death, the right to compensation therefor shall be barred.

Miss.Code Ann. § 71-3-35(1) (Rev.2000). Accordingly, a claim for workers' compensation benefits is barred where the claim is filed more than two years after the injury and where the claimant did not receive compensation other than medical treatment within the two-year period. See Speed Mechanical, Inc. v. Taylor, 342 So.2d 317, 320 (Miss.1977) (relying on section 71-3-35(1) (1972) to bar compensation).

¶ 9. Baker had two years from the date of his injury to file a claim, and he failed to do so. The Employer's voluntary payment of his medical treatment is of no consequence. Therefore, we find that the voluntary payment of medical benefits did not toll the two-year statute of limitations provided in section 71-3-35(1) as to the payment of current and future medical benefits.

II. Whether part of Baker's wages should be found to be in lieu of compensation, thereby tolling the statute of limitations.

¶ 10. Baker argues that part of his wages should be found to be in lieu of compensation because he performed lighter duties at the same or higher pay. Baker further contends that Super Valu created a diminished working capacity because he was asked to sign a statement that he would not operate market equipment while taking morphine. Conversely, Super Valu argues that Baker's wages should not be found to be in lieu of compensation because Baker continued to earn his salary after his injury, and he never provided Super Valu with any notice of physical restrictions.

¶ 11. Mississippi law allows an employer to receive credit against a workers' compensation award for wages paid to an employee if the payment of those wages were intended to be made in lieu of workers' compensation. See Lanterman v. Roadway Express, Inc., 608 So.2d 1340, 1348-49 (Miss.1992); City of Kosciusko v. Graham, 419 So.2d 1005, 1009 (Miss.1982). However, there is seldom any evidence that the employer intended the payment of wages to be in lieu of compensation. George S. Taylor Constr. Co. v. Harlow, 269 So.2d 337, 338 (Miss.1972) (quoting 2 A. Larson, The Law of Workmen's Compensation, section 57.41 (1970)).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
990 So. 2d 254, 2008 WL 1797278, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/baker-v-iga-super-valu-food-store-missctapp-2008.