Reynolds v. Board of Education

736 A.2d 391, 127 Md. App. 648, 1999 Md. App. LEXIS 141
CourtCourt of Special Appeals of Maryland
DecidedSeptember 2, 1999
DocketNo. 1858
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 736 A.2d 391 (Reynolds v. Board of Education) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Special Appeals of Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Reynolds v. Board of Education, 736 A.2d 391, 127 Md. App. 648, 1999 Md. App. LEXIS 141 (Md. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinion

EYLER, Judge.

This appeal is from an order of the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County granting summary judgment in favor of the Board of Education of Prince George’s County, appellee. The question presented on appeal is whether the Board was entitled to apply ordinary disability retirement benefits owed to Barbara A. Reynolds, appellant, as a credit to workers’ compensation benefits also owed to appellant. Md.Code (1991 Repl.Vol.), Lab. & Empl. (LE) § 9-610. In an unreported opinion filed on July 30,1998, we affirmed the judgment of the circuit court. The Court of Appeals granted certiorari, and by order filed April 12, 1999, vacated the judgment entered by this Court and remanded the case for reconsideration in light of Blevins v. Baltimore County, 352 Md. 620, 724 A.2d 22 (1999). On reconsideration, we again affirm the judgment of the circuit court.

Facts

Beginning in 1975 appellant was employed as a bus driver by appellee and at all times pertinent to this appeal was a member of the Employees’ Pension System. Appellant was exposed to diesel fuel and its fumes while operating a bus, and as a result of the exposure, began to suffer from a variety of health problems including headaches, respiratory difficulties, and skin irritations. On March 4, 1993, appellant filed a claim with the Workers’ Compensation Commission (the Commission) alleging that she became disabled on March 2, 1993 as a [651]*651result of an occupational disease. On December 20, 1995, the Commission awarded appellant a 60% permanent partial disability to the body as a whole as the result of a work-related occupational disease resulting from exposure to diesel fuel.1 The benefits were payable at the rate of $246 weekly beginning September 27,1994, for a period of 400 weeks.

On September 3, 1993, appellant applied for accidental disability retirement benefits from the employees’ retirement system as the result of her health problems resulting from exposure to diesel fuel and fumes. A medical board established by the Board of Trustees of the Maryland State Retirement and Pension System (Board of Trustees) denied appellant’s claim for accidental disability retirement benefits but granted ordinary disability retirement benefits. The medical board approved ordinary disability retirement benefits based on a finding of chronic asthma with an allergic reaction to fuel and diesel fumes. Appellant appealed the denial of accidental disability retirement benefits, and on appeal, an administrative law judge supported the medical board’s determination and recommended that the Board of Trustees deny the application for accidental disability retirement benefits. The administrative law judge’s recommendation was based on a finding that there had been no “accident,” and at most, appellant suffered from an occupational disease. The administrative law judge further observed that appellant had a pre-existing asthmatic condition which was merely exacerbated by exposure to diesel fuel, which did not entitle her to accidental disability benefits. The Board of Trustees adopted the administrative law judge’s recommendation. As a result, appellant was denied accidental disability retirement benefits but was awarded ordinary disability retirement benefits effective November 1,1993.

The Commission, in its December 20, 1995 order, held that appellee was not entitled to a setoff for ordinary disability retirement benefits because they were not “similar” to workers’ compensation benefits.

[652]*652Appellee petitioned for judicial review and filed a motion for summary judgment contending that it was entitled to a setoff. On July 30, 1997, the circuit court granted the motion for summary judgment and held that appellee was entitled to a credit to workers’ compensation benefits for ordinary disability retirement benefits. Appellant appealed to this Court, and in an unreported opinion filed on July 30, 1998, we affirmed the judgment of the circuit court. In doing so, we held that this case was controlled by LE § 9-610(a), as recodified in 1991, and our holding in Wills v. Baltimore County, 120 Md.App. 281, 707 A.2d 108 (1998), rev’d sub nom., Blevins v. Baltimore County, 352 Md. 620, 724 A.2d 22 (1999). In Wills, this Court construed the meaning of LE § 9-610(a) and stated:

[T]he clear language of L.E. § 9-610(a) no longer draws a distinction between retirement or pension benefits that are service-related and those that accrue due to disability. That the “similar benefit” phrase once appeared in the statutory predecessor to L.E. § 9-610(a) does not lead logically to the conclusion that the concept still applies to the statute, absent the language. Indeed, it compels the contrary conclusion: that the Legislature intended by its clear language to eliminate the distinction that once existed in the law.

120 Md.App. at 306, 707 A.2d 108.

In Wills, based on the deletion of “similar” in LE § 9-610(a), we held that workers’ compensation benefits were offset by service retirement benefits, even though receipt of the retirement benefits was unrelated to the injury upon which the workers’ compensation award was based. We applied that reasoning to this case and concluded that if service retirement benefits may be offset against workers’ compensation benefits, then ordinary disability retirement benefits necessarily may be offset against workers’ compensation benefits.

In Blevins v. Baltimore County, 352 Md. 620, 724 A.2d 22 (1999), the Court of Appeals reversed our holding in Wills and stated that the deletion of the word “similar” as part of [653]*653the recodification of § 9-610(a) in 1991 did not effect a substantive change and that the requirement of similarity for an offset still exists in the law. Service retirement benefits are not similar to accidental disability benefits. Newman v. Subsequent Injury Fund, 311 Md. 721, 724, 537 A.2d 274 (1988). As a consequence of that holding, the Court of Appeals, as stated previously, vacated the judgment entered by this Court in this case and remanded it for reconsideration. We affirm the judgment of the circuit court for reasons which follow.

Participants in the Maryland State Retirement and Pension System, including appellant, may be eligible for three different types of retirement benefits: service retirement benefits pursuant to Title 22 of the State Personnel and Pensions Article, ordinary disability retirement benefits or accidental disability retirement benefits pursuant to Title 29 of the State Personnel and Pensions Article. The Board of Trustees shall grant an accidental disability retirement allowance

to a member if:

(1) the member is totally and permanently incapacitated for duty as the natural and proximate result of an accident that occurred in the actual performance of duty ... and

(2) the medical board certifies that:

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Bluebook (online)
736 A.2d 391, 127 Md. App. 648, 1999 Md. App. LEXIS 141, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/reynolds-v-board-of-education-mdctspecapp-1999.