Cayton v. Safelite Glass Corp.

220 P.3d 1190, 231 Or. App. 646, 2009 Ore. App. LEXIS 1686
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedNovember 4, 2009
Docket0605262; A136188
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 220 P.3d 1190 (Cayton v. Safelite Glass Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cayton v. Safelite Glass Corp., 220 P.3d 1190, 231 Or. App. 646, 2009 Ore. App. LEXIS 1686 (Or. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinion

ROSENBLUM, J.

Claimant seeks review of an order of the Workers’ Compensation Board (board) that denied his claim for penalties and attorney fees pursuant to ORS 656.262(ll)(a)1 and ORS 656.382(1).2 According to claimant, employer unreasonably delayed payment of a lump sum award by failing to timely pay the award or to state its objection to the payment and refer the issue to the director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services (DCBS). Employer contends that the board was correct in determining that, because employer had not yet waived its right to appeal the lump sum award, it had not violated ORS 656.230(1) (2005).3 Claimant argues that the board erred in its construction of ORS 656.230(1), thereby causing it to erroneously decline to enforce OAR 436-060-0060 (2006).4 We agree with claimant, [649]*649and reverse and remand for reconsideration of the board’s denial of penalties and fees.

We take the following relevant facts from the record. Claimant has a compensable occupational disease that renders him partially disabled. He was initially awarded a permanent partial disability award of $82,828.98. Employer disagreed with the impairment findings that gave rise to the award, and sought administrative review. Ultimately, on July 20, 2006, the DCBS Appellate Review Unit issued an order on reconsideration, awarding claimant an additional $54,685.02 — that is, a total award of $137,514.00. On July 25, 2006, pursuant to ORS 656.230(1), claimant transmitted to employer an application for a lump sum payment, requesting that he be paid the balance of his award. Specifically, claimant filled out and transmitted to employer DCBS Form 1174, a form created by DCBS for the purpose of facilitating a claimant’s request for a lump sum payment. Form 1174 includes a waiver by the claimant of his or her right to appeal the adequacy of an award and instructs the employer’s insurer that, if it objects to the payment of the award in a lump sum, it must state its reasons for objecting in the space provided and forward its response to the director of the DCBS within 14 days. Employer did not pay claimant or respond to the application within that time frame.

On August 22, claimant filed a request for a hearing in which he sought an order compelling the lump sum payment and assessing penalties and attorney fees against employer for its unreasonable resistance and delay. A hearing before an administrative law judge (ALJ) was scheduled for November 16.5 Employer’s insurer paid the lump sum award on August 30.

[650]*650Claimant argued to the ALJ that employer had violated OAR 436-060-0060 (2006) and ORS 656.230(1) by failing to either pay the lump sum award or state its objection to doing so in a timely manner and urged the ALJ to impose penalties and fees against employer. Following the hearing, the ALJ concluded that employer had not unreasonably resisted payment of the lump sum award because employer had not yet waived its right to appeal the adequacy of the lump sum award when claimant requested the payment. The ALJ reasoned that the requirement in ORS 656.230(1) that “the award has become final by operation of law or waiver of the right to appeal its adequacy” requires waiver by both the claimant and the employer. He issued an order denying claimant’s request for penalties and fees.

Claimant appealed the AL J’s decision, and the board affirmed. The relevant portion of the board’s order is as follows:

“ ‘[W]aiver’ of the right to appeal the award rests not only with claimant, but also with the insurer.
“Claimant asserts that the term ‘adequacy’ implies an intent by the legislature to limit the ‘right to appeal’ to the worker. However, to interpret the statute as claimant suggests would require inserting language into the statute. Specifically, the statute would have to be read to provide ‘claimant’s waiver of the right to appeal its adequacy.’ * * *
“Moreover, to do so would render ORS 656.268(6)(g) [allowing either party to appeal from an order on reconsideration] meaningless. * * *
“Here, claimant was awarded PPD [permanent partial disability] via Order on Reconsideration. * * *. Yet, when claimant filed his ‘lump sum’ application, the insurer was still within its 30-day statutory right to appeal * * * pursuant to ORS 656.268(6)(g). Therefore, because the PPD award had not become final by operation of law, nor had the [651]*651insurer waived its right to appeal the adequacy of the award, the conditions necessary for the application of ORS 656.230(1) had not occurred.”

(Emphasis in original.) In ruling in employer’s favor, the board acknowledged that the applicable administrative rule, OAR, 436-060-0060 (2006), required only that the worker— not the employer — waive his or her right to appeal the adequacy of the award before a request could be made for lump sum payment pursuant to ORS 656.230(1). However, the board “decline[d] to interpret OAR 436-060-0060(1) [(2006)] in a manner that would be inconsistent with the statutory scheme [of ORS 656.230(1) and ORS 656.268(6)(g)].”

On judicial review, claimant argues that the board erred in concluding that ORS 656.230(1) requires both parties to waive their rights to appeal, that OAR 436-060-0060 (2006) impermissibly altered ORS 656.230(1), and that OAR 436-060-0060 (2006) conflicted with employer’s right to appeal pursuant to ORS 656.268(6)(g). Employer argues that the board’s construction of ORS 656.230(1) and its conclusion that OAR 436-060-0060 (2006) conflicted with the statutory scheme were both correct.

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Related

Giltner v. SAIF
Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2023
Cayton v. Safelite Glass Corp.
306 P.3d 726 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2013)
In Re Compensation of Cayton
220 P.3d 1190 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2009)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
220 P.3d 1190, 231 Or. App. 646, 2009 Ore. App. LEXIS 1686, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cayton-v-safelite-glass-corp-orctapp-2009.