Minor v. J & J Carpet, Inc.

84 So. 3d 680, 11 La.App. 3 Cir. 974, 2012 WL 280665, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 105
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 1, 2012
DocketNo. 11-974
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 84 So. 3d 680 (Minor v. J & J Carpet, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Minor v. J & J Carpet, Inc., 84 So. 3d 680, 11 La.App. 3 Cir. 974, 2012 WL 280665, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 105 (La. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

AMY, Judge.

hln a previous hearing, the workers’ compensation judge found that the claimant had been injured in the course and scope of his employment and awarded benefits. The claimant subsequently instituted this proceeding, seeking to enforce the judgment and requesting penalties and attorney fees. After a hearing, the workers’ compensation judge found that the defendants reasonably relied on representations by the claimant’s attorney that he would obtain and forward the outstanding medical bills. However, the workers’ compensation judge found that the defendants paid three medical bills untimely. Accordingly, the workers’ compensation judge awarded penalties and attorney fees for those three bills and otherwise denied the claimant’s requests. The claimant appeals. For the following reasons, we affirm.

Factual and Procedural Background

The claimant, Robert Minor, alleged that he injured his back while picking up a piece of granite. After his employer denied workers’ compensation benefits, he instituted a disputed claim for benefits. After a hearing, the workers’ compensation judge found that the claimant was injured in the course and scope of his employment and, in a judgment signed on September 14, 2009, awarded indemnity benefits, medical benefits, and penalties and attorney fees. The defendants appealed and a panel of this court affirmed the judgment of the workers’ compensation judge. See Minor v. J & J Carpet, Inc., 10-45 (La.App. 3 Cir. 6/2/10), 40 So.3d 434.

After the September 14, 2009 judgment became final, the claimant filed a motion to enforce judgment, alleging that the defendants had failed to pay the claimant’s outstanding medical bills in accordance with the time periods delineated in La.R.S. 23:1201(G). Therein, the claimant requested penalties and attorney fees [2and that he be authorized to file a copy of the judgment in the mortgage records of several parishes. Further, the claimant asked the workers’ compensation judge to request that the Louisiana Insurance Commissioner suspend or revoke the workers’ compensation insurer’s license. On the morning of the hearing, the claimant filed a motion to amend, in part asserting that the defendants were not entitled to rely on the reimbursement fee schedule and should pay 100% of the claimant’s medical bills and that the payment should be made directly to the claimant and not the medical providers.

After a hearing, the workers’ compensation judge found that the defendants reasonably relied on a letter from the claimant’s attorney “that he would forward the bills for payment.” Based on this finding, the workers’ compensation judge found that the majority of the medical bills were paid timely. However, the workers’ compensation judge found that three bills1 were not paid within thirty days after “the defendants were placed on notice that they were due and that it was up to them to be paid.” Thus, the workers’ compensation judge awarded penalties for the failure to pay those bills within the time periods set out in La.R.S. 23:1201(G). The workers’ compensation judge also awarded $1,000.00 in attorney fees. Otherwise, the workers’ compensation judge denied the claimant’s requests.

The claimant appeals, asserting as error:
[683]*6831. The trial court committed legal error when, in a complete benefits denial case, post-final, non-appealable judgment, it reduced Claimant’s outstanding medical expenses from one hundred percent (100%) to the reimbursement schedule amount that would have been applicable, had the defendants accepted Claimant’s claim at the outset and paid Claimant[’s] medical expenses timely.
2. The trial court committed legal error by construing Exhibit D-l as a waiver by Claimant, thereby allowing the Employer Defendant and its insurance carrier to late-pay the medical expenses |aof Claimant to Claimant’s medical providers at the workers!’] compensation reimbursement schedule, without penalty, more than thirty (30) days after the original judgment was noticed by this court on June 2, 2010, and became final and non-appealable on or about July 2, 2010, and by not awarding Claimant penalties of at least $34,425.90.
3. The trial court committed legal error by failing to grant an order authorizing the filing of a certified copy of the judgment dated September 14, 2009 in the mortgage records of Concordia Parish, Louisiana, East Baton Rouge Parish, and any other parish where the assets of J & J Carpet, Inc[J and LEM-IC Insurance Company may be found, pursuant to Louisiana Revised Statutes 23:1201.3.
4. The trial court committed legal error by not ordering or requesting that the Louisiana Insurance Commissioner suspend or revoke the license or authority of LEMIC Insurance Company to do workers’ compensation business in this state based on its claims adjusting practices whereby it intentionally did not pay Minor’s medical expenses, post final, non-appealable judgment.
5. The trial court committed legal error by not ordering the Employer Defendant to reimburse Mississippi Medicaid all sums expended for Robert Minor’s care arising from his work injury of January 11, 2008.
6. The trial court abused its discretion by awarding Claimant attorney!] fees of only $1,000.00 for post-final, non-appealable judgment discovery, evidence gathering, research, preparation of pleadings, briefing, travel and trial of the Motion to Enforce on a post-final, non-appealable judgment claim with $98,062.23 in unpaid medical bills, subject to a 24% penalty.

Discussion

Findings of Fact

The claimant asserts that the workers’ compensation judge erred in considering a letter from claimant’s counsel as a “waiver,” which permitted the defendants to pay the claimant’s medical bills outside of the thirty day time period permitted by La.R.S. 23:1201(G). The claimant additionally asserts that many of the medical bills were entered into evidence at a previous hearing and that the defendants should have been aware of the bills.

| Louisiana Revised Statutes Article 23:1201(G) concerns the defendants’ failure to pay a judgment timely, stating, in relevant part:

If any award payable under the terms of a final, nonappealable judgment is not paid within thirty days after it becomes due, there shall be added to such award an amount equal to twenty-four percent thereof or one hundred dollars per day together with reasonable attorney fees, for each calendar day after thirty days it remains unpaid, whichever is greater, which shall be paid at the same time as, and in addition to, such award, unless [684]*684such nonpayment results from conditions over which the employer had no control.

The reasoning for a defendant’s failure to pay a final, nonappealable judgment within thirty days is a finding of fact subject to the manifest error standard of review. Wilzcewski v. Brookshire Grocery Co., 10-1148 (La.App. 3 Cir. 3/16/11), 59 So.3d 530.

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Bluebook (online)
84 So. 3d 680, 11 La.App. 3 Cir. 974, 2012 WL 280665, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 105, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/minor-v-j-j-carpet-inc-lactapp-2012.