Carpenter v. National Filter Service

994 P.2d 641, 26 Kan. App. 2d 672, 1999 Kan. App. LEXIS 1357
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kansas
DecidedDecember 17, 1999
DocketNo. 81,106
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 994 P.2d 641 (Carpenter v. National Filter Service) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Carpenter v. National Filter Service, 994 P.2d 641, 26 Kan. App. 2d 672, 1999 Kan. App. LEXIS 1357 (kanctapp 1999).

Opinion

Hill, J.:

Travelers Insurance Company (Travelers) appeals the dismissal of its administrative appeal to the Workers Compensation Board (Board). We affirm.

The claimant, Robert Carpenter, while an employee of National Filter Service (National), injured his knee while working in Minnesota. National has offices in Wichita. The claimant’s contract was signed in Kansas. The claimant’s job required him to travel to stores at various locations in the Midwest.

At the time of the claimant’s accident, National had obtained workers compensation coverage under an insurance policy issued by Royal Insurance Company (Royal). The policy is administered by Travelers in Kansas.

The administrative law judge made a prehminary award to the claimant of temporaiy total disability benefits from the date of the accident forward and the cost of medical treatment. The judge assessed the costs of all benefits against Travelers and Royal.

Travelers appealed to the Board, arguing the policy did not cover injuries in Kansas. The Board dismissed the appeal.

The Board’s review is limited to final orders, awards, modifications of awards, or prehminary awards under K.S.A. 1998 Supp. 44-534a. See K.S.A. 1998 Supp. 44-551(b)(l).

In this appeal, Travelers argues that the assessment entered by the judge was a prehminary award. Therefore, we must look to the Workers Compensation Act for the methods of its administration. See Jones v. Continental Can. Co., 260 Kan. 547, 557, 920 P.2d 939 (1996). Interpretation of a statute is a question of law, subject to unlimited review. Hamilton v. State Farm Fire & Cas. Co., 263 Kan. 875, 879, 953 P.2d 1027 (1998).

The judge in this case described the proceeding as a prehminary hearing. Prehminary awards, however, are not generally appealable to the Board. See Rivera v. Cimarron Dairy, 267 Kan. 875, 879, 988 P.2d 235 (1999). As the Rivera court stated, the purpose of foreclosing an appeal from a prehminary hearing is to afford the injured employee immediate access to medical and living expenses pending a full hearing. 267 Kan. at 879.

At a prehminary hearing, the judge may summarily award medical and temporary total disability compensation upon a finding that [674]*674the injury is compensable. If the compensability of the claim or tht. claimant’s entitlement to benefits is disputed, the employer may present evidence on the disputed issues. See K.S.A. 1998 Supp. 44-534a(a)(2). The statute then lists findings on disputed issues which are subject to Board review: whether the claimant suffered an injury by accident; whether the injury arose out of and in the course of employment; whether notice was given or claim timely made; or whether certain defenses apply. K.S.A. 1998 Supp. 44-534a(a)(2).

The statute does not specify the “certain defenses” which may be appealed to the Board. The statute does state that all the listed findings subject to Board review are considered jurisdictional. Thus, Board review is limited to allegations that the judge exceeded the judge’s jurisdiction in entering the preliminary award. See K.S.A. 1998 Supp. 44-551(b)(2)(A).

Travelers maintains that the judge exceeded his jurisdiction because the claimant was not covered by the Royal policy on the date of the accident. We note that Travelers does not deny the judge has subject matter jurisdiction over insurance liability. However, Travelers does claim it was not a proper party to the proceedings because Royal’s policy was not effective in Kansas.

Travelers cites as support King v. El Dorado Motor Co., 181 Kan. 477, 311 P.2d 999 (1957), where the administrative agency was held to have no jurisdiction over an insurance agent or broker who was not qualified to offer workers compensation insurance in Kansas. Travelers argues the judge similarly lacked jurisdiction in this case to assess the preliminary award against it and Royal. Whatever the merits of Travelers’ contention, the Board had jurisdiction to review the issue only as provided by the Workers Compensation Act. In this instance, the Board had jurisdiction if the argument raised by Travelers fit under the “certain defenses” provision of K.S.A. 1998 Supp. 44-534a(a)(2).

It is important to note that K.S.A. 1998 Supp. 44-534a(a)(2) contemplates disputes in preliminary hearings only over the compensability of the injury and the analogous question of the claimant’s entitlement to benefits. It seems to us that the very purpose of the prehminary hearing is to determine whether the claimant should [675]*675be receiving benefits under the Act. See Shain v. Boeing Military Airplanes, 22 Kan. App. 2d 913, 915, 924 P.2d 1280 (1996). In keeping with this, the disputed findings subject to Board review, other than the “certain defenses,” are the findings necessary to establish coverage by the Workers Compensation Act. For example, see K.S.A. 1998 Supp. 44-501(a), requiring examination as to whether the injury was one arising out of and in the course of employment, and K.S.A. 44-520a(a), raising whether notice and claim were filed in a timely manner. It is in this sense that they are considered jurisdictional.

When construing statutes, this court must construe the several provisions of an act together. See KPERS v. Reimer & Roger Assocs., Inc., 262 Kan. 635, 643-44, 941 P.2d 1321 (1997). Therefore, the Board’s jurisdiction to review allegations the judge exceeded the judge’s jurisdiction, as provided in K.S.A. 1998 Supp. 44-551(b)(2)(A), must be read together with K.S.A. 1998 Supp. 44-534a. Because in 44-534a jurisdiction means coverage by the Act, “certain defenses” are subject to review only if they dispute the compensability of the injury under the Act.

In Shain, the Fund argued it was not liable under recent amendments to the Workers Compensation Act.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
994 P.2d 641, 26 Kan. App. 2d 672, 1999 Kan. App. LEXIS 1357, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/carpenter-v-national-filter-service-kanctapp-1999.