Messamore v. Peabody Coal Co.

569 S.W.2d 693, 1978 Ky. App. LEXIS 565
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky
DecidedApril 28, 1978
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 569 S.W.2d 693 (Messamore v. Peabody Coal Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Messamore v. Peabody Coal Co., 569 S.W.2d 693, 1978 Ky. App. LEXIS 565 (Ky. Ct. App. 1978).

Opinion

PARK, Judge.

On March 5, 1974, the appellant, Charles Messamore sustained a work-related injury while employed by the appellee, Peabody Coal Company. The Workman’s Compensation Board found that Messamore had suffered a permanent injury to his left leg. The board also found that this injury would [695]*695not limit his occupational opportunities to obtain the kind of work he was customarily able to do. The board made no award of income benefits for occupational disability under subparagraph (b) of KRS 342.730 (1), but it did award him income benefits for functional disability under the “price tag” statute, subparagraph (c) of KRS 342.730 (1). Messamore appeals from a judgment of the Union Circuit Court affirming the award of the board.

On this appeal, Messamore asserts that the board erred in failing to award income benefits for occupational disability. In addition, this appeal presents serious procedural questions involving multiple petitions for reconsideration of the board’s award and the finality of the award for purposes of appeal.

I

A chronological history of the case is essential to an understanding of the procedural maze through which the parties journeyed:

July 12 Original opinion and award
July 19 Peabody Coal files petition for reconsideration
July 21 Messamore files petition for reconsideration
August 2 Board “sustains” both petitions for reconsideration and enters order amending award of July 12
August 6 Messamore appeals by filing petition for review in the Union Circuit Court
August 13 Peabody Coal files second petition for reconsideration
August 30 Board sustains Peabody Coal’s second petition for reconsideration and amends award for second time

Messamore did not appeal from the board’s order of August 30, taking the position that the board was without jurisdiction to consider Peabody’s second petition for reconsideration filed after Messamore had taken his appeal to the circuit court on August 6. In its final judgment, the circuit court both affirmed the board’s award on the merits and dismissed the appeal because of Messamore’s failure to appeal from the board’s last order of August 30. The circuit court took the position that the second petition for reconsideration destroyed the finality of the board’s order of August 2, and that Messamore was required to file an appeal from the last order of the board on August 30.

Messamore first contends that he did not have to appeal from the order of August 30 because Peabody did not have the right to file a second petition for reconsideration. According to Messamore, the right to appeal from an award of the board could be frustrated if a party were permitted to file successive petitions for reconsideration before the board. A similar problem was presented to this court in Tube Turns, Division of Chemetron v. Quiggins, Ky.App. (decided today). In that case, the employee filed a timely petition for reconsideration setting forth certain errors in the award. The board entered an order sustaining the petition for reconsideration and corrected the award in the exact manner requested by the employee. The employee then filed a second petition for reconsideration raising a new issue. In effect, the employee was contending that he asked for inadequate income benefits in his first petition for reconsideration. This court held that, within fourteen days of the original award, the employee was required to set forth all errors relied upon (KRS 342.281) and that the employee was barred from filing a second petition for reconsideration.

This case is clearly distinguishable from the facts in the Tube Turns case. The board did not grant the specific relief sought by Peabody in its first petition for reconsideration, which was based upon what was deemed to be a mathematical miscalculation in the award. The board’s opinion and the award of July 12 described the income benefits payable to Messamore as follows:

the sum of $19.47 per week from December 8, 1974; ($236.00 X 55% = $129.80 X 12½% = $16.23) for a period of 340 weeks, (12½% for permanent injury to plaintiff’s leg) . . . . (Emphasis added)

[696]*696Peabody asserted that the award of $19.47 per week for 340 weeks was a clerical misprision and that the award should be $16.23

The board’s order of August 2 purported to sustain both Messamore’s and Peabody’s petitions for reconsideration. However, the effect of the order of August 2 was to deny Messamore’s contention that he was entitled to income benefits for occupational disability. The board’s order of August 2 did recognize that the original award of July 12 had not been computed correctly under sub-paragraph (c) of KRS 342.730 (1). For total loss of use of a leg, an employee was then entitled to 55% of average weekly wages for 340 weeks, subject to the maximum weekly benefits limitation of KRS 342.740. Under subparagraph (c) 22, in cases of permanent partial loss of use of a member, the employee was entitled to income benefits for “a period proportionate to the period benefits are payable for total loss or total loss of use of the member as such partial loss bears to total loss.” The board’s order of August 2 amended the award of income benefits to read as follows:

the sum of $84.00 per week from December 8, 1974 (12½% X 340) (12½% for the permanent injury to the plaintiff’s leg)

Having found that Messamore had suffered a 12½% partial loss of use of the left leg, the board should have awarded $84.00 per week (the maximum benefit payable under KRS 342.740) for 42½ weeks (340 weeks X 12½%). Although this was the obvious intent of the order of August 2, that order failed to spell out precisely the period for which income benefits would be payable.

The board’s order of August 2 granted new relief and contained an error not present in the original award. Peabody’s second petition for reconsideration was based upon the failure of the order of August 2 to specify the termination date for the payment of benefits. On August 30, the board purported to sustain Peabody’s second petition for reconsideration and attempted to amend its award of benefits to Messamore to read as follows:

the sum of $84.00 per week from December 8, 1974 (12½% for the permanent injury to the plaintiff’s leg), for a period of 42.5 weeks .

When the board amends an award following a petition for reconsideration and makes a different award of benefits, the parties should not be foreclosed from seeking to correct a new error which did not appear in the original award. See Goodrich v. Industrial Accident Commission, 22 Cal.2d 604,

Related

Whittaker v. Wright
969 S.W.2d 209 (Kentucky Supreme Court, 1998)
Tube Turns Division of Chemetron v. Quiggins
574 S.W.2d 901 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 1978)

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Bluebook (online)
569 S.W.2d 693, 1978 Ky. App. LEXIS 565, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/messamore-v-peabody-coal-co-kyctapp-1978.