Icenhower v. SAIF Corp.

43 P.3d 431, 180 Or. App. 297
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedMarch 20, 2002
Docket98-10087; A110770
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 43 P.3d 431 (Icenhower v. SAIF 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
Icenhower v. SAIF Corp., 43 P.3d 431, 180 Or. App. 297 (Or. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinions

[299]*299HASELTON, J.

In this workers’ compensation case, claimant seeks judicial review of an order of the Workers’ Compensation Board dismissing her request for a hearing for lack of jurisdiction. We review for errors of law, ORS 183.482(8)(a), and reverse and remand for reconsideration.

The material facts are largely undisputed. Claimant injured her shoulder in November 1998 and filed a workers’ compensation claim in early December 1998. SAIF denied the claim, and claimant requested a hearing on the compensability of her shoulder condition. A hearing was initially scheduled for March 1999, but was postponed until June 24, 1999, so that SAIF could depose claimant’s attending physician. At the beginning of the June 24 hearing, claimant raised the issue of penalties for the first time. At SAIF’s request, the administrative law judge (ALJ) continued the hearing until October 28, 1999, to allow SAIF to respond to the new issue.1

One week before the hearing reconvened on October 28, SAIF orally agreed to rescind its denial and to pay claimant’s attorney fees. When the hearing reconvened, SAIF informed the ALJ that the parties would prepare a stipulation reflecting their agreement. SAIF then argued that Hearings Division lacked jurisdiction, citing ORS 656.262(1 l)(a) (discussed below), because the only remaining issue was the penalty, which SAIF argued was within the exclusive jurisdiction of the director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services (DCBS). The ALJ took the issue under advisement. In mid-November, the parties submitted a proposed stipulation and order, which the ALJ signed on November 18, 1999. On November 29, 1999, the ALJ issued his opinion and order, concluding that the Hearings Division [300]*300lacked jurisdiction to decide the penalty issue. The Board affirmed.

On judicial review, claimant argues that the Hearings Division acquired jurisdiction when she requested a hearing on SAIF’s denial, and that, because SAIF still contested compensability when claimant raised the penalty issue at the June 1999 hearing, the matters at issue were penalties and compensability. Claimant further argues that the Hearings Division did not lose jurisdiction over the proceeding when, immediately before the hearing reconvened October 28, SAIF agreed to withdraw its compensability denial and pay claimant’s attorney fees. In claimant’s view, the Hearings Division had jurisdiction and could not lose it in the midst of a proceeding.

In response, SAIF acknowledges that, at least initially, the Hearings Division had jurisdiction over the entire proceeding, but argues that after SAIF agreed to rescind its denial and pay claimant’s attorney fees only the penalty issue remained. At that point, SAIF argues, the Hearings Division was divested of jurisdiction.

The issue is one of statutory construction: Did the legislature, in adopting ORS 656.262(11)(a), intend that proceedings that were initially properly before the Hearings Division must be dismissed if, at some point thereafter, the imposition of penalties under ORS 656.262(ll)(a) becomes the only remaining issue? In a related sense, even if the Hearings Division erred in dismissing claimant’s action, was the action properly dismissed by the Board because, by the time the Board considered claimant’s request for review, the only remaining issue was penalties? We begin by examining the statutory text in context. PGE v. Bureau of Labor and Industries, 317 Or 606, 611, 859 P2d 1143 (1993).

ORS 656.262(ll)(a) provides, in part:

“If the insurer or self-insured employer unreasonably delays or unreasonably refuses to pay compensation, or unreasonably delays acceptance or denial of a claim, the insurer or self-insured employer shall be liable for an additional amount up to 25 percent of the amounts then due. Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, the director shall have exclusive jurisdiction over proceedings [301]*301regarding solely the assessment and payment of the additional amount described in this subsection.” (Emphasis added.)

The critical statutory language is “proceedings regarding solely the assessment and payment of [penalties]” — and, even more precisely, “proceedings.” There is no dispute that the only issue remaining by the time this action reached the Board related solely to penalties. Thus, if “proceedings” were construed narrowly as meaning each discrete stage of the litigation process, the “proceedings” before the Board related solely to entitlement to penalties — and the Board lacked jurisdiction to determine that matter. In a related sense, if “proceedings” were so (narrowly) construed, the Board could not remand to the ALJ to rectify his original error because the ALJ would no longer have jurisdiction to consider the penalty issue. In sum, under a segmented construction of “proceedings,” the parties’ stipulation as to compensability would obviate subject matter jurisdiction with respect to penalties.

Conversely, if “proceedings” were construed broadly, to encompass the litigation and review process as a whole, then the intervening execution and filing of the stipulation would not have such jurisdictional implications. Under such a holistic construction, the “proceedings” did not relate solely to penalties because, at least originally, compensability was also at issue. The fact that compensability was later conceded would not alter the reality that it was originally in dispute— and, thus, that the “proceedings” viewed as a whole did not pertain solely to penalties. Under such a construction, the Board would have jurisdiction to remand to the ALJ to determine claimant’s alleged entitlement to penalties, and the ALJ would have jurisdiction to do so.2

We return, thus, to the meaning of “proceedings.” In common usage when referring to legal matters, “proceedings” means “the course of procedure in a judicial action or in a suit [302]*302in litigation: legal action” or “a particular action at law or case in litigation.” Webster’s Third New Int’l Dictionary, 1807 (unabridged ed 1993). The term can be properly understood not just as a matter of common usage but also as a term of art. In that sense, Black’s Law Dictionary, 1221 (7th ed 1999) offers two pertinent definitions of “proceeding”:

“1. The regular and orderly progression of a lawsuit, including all acts and events between the time of commencement and the entry of judgment.
* * * Hi
“3. An action or step that is part of a larger action.”3

Thus, “proceedings” can be plausibly understood to refer to the entire course of litigation or to individual steps within that process.

Contextual review of the workers’ compensation statutes is not especially enlightening.

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Icenhower v. SAIF Corp.
43 P.3d 431 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2002)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
43 P.3d 431, 180 Or. App. 297, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/icenhower-v-saif-corp-orctapp-2002.