Rowe v. Chapman Trucking

629 A.2d 1224, 1993 Me. LEXIS 222

• Court: Supreme Judicial Court of Maine
• Decided: August 12, 1993
• Status: Published

Opinions

RUDMAN, Justice.

The employer, Chapman Trucking, and its insurer, Maine Bonding and Casualty Co., appeal from a decision of the Appellate Division of the Workers’ Compensation Commission affirming an award to the employee, Calvin Rowe, of his attorney fees and disbursements pursuant to 39 M.R.S.A. § 110(2) (1989). Because we conclude that the award contravened the plain meaning of section 110(2), we vacate the decision.

On August 10, 1988, the employee sustained a compensable injury that resulted in the loss of his right eye. Pursuant to a memorandum of payment, the employer began paying benefits to the employee for total incapacity. 39 M.R.S.A. § 51-B (1989 & Supp.1992). Five months later, on January 10,1989, the employer made an offer in writing to the employee to reduce the employee’s benefits to a level of 70% incapacity. After the employee rejected the offer, the employer filed a petition for review of incapacity. 39 M.R.S.A. § 100 (1989 & Supp.1992). By an order dated August 17, 1990, the hearing commissioner reduced the employee’s benefits to a level commensurate with 69% incapacity. The employee then moved for an award of attorney fees and disbursements under 39 M.R.S.A. § H0(2)(A):

If an employee prevails in any proceeding involving a controversy under this Act, the commission or commissioner may assess the employer costs of a reasonable attorney’s fee ...

(A) For the purposes of this subsection, “prevail” means to obtain or retain more compensation or benefits under the Act than were offered to the employee by the employer in writing before the proceedings were instituted. If no such offer was made, “prevail” means to obtain or retain compensation or benefits under the Act.

The commissioner determined that the employee had prevailed within the meaning of section 110(2)(A), awarded the employee reasonable attorney fees and disbursements, and the Appellate Division subsequently affirmed the commissioner’s order. We granted the employer’s petition for appellate review. 39 M.R.S.A. § 103-C (1989).

As we have repeatedly said, “[u]nless a statute expresses a contrary intent, the plain, common and ordinary meaning of statutory language controls the interpretation of the statute.” Keene v. Fairchild Co., 593 A.2d 655, 657 (Me.1991). “We need not delve into legislative history or policy considerations to determine the meaning of § 110(2)....” Marsella v. Bath Iron Works Corp., 585 A.2d 802, 803 (Me.1991). “In construing a statute our duty is to give effect to the intent of the legislature as evidenced by the language of the statute. If the meaning of this language is plain, we must interpret the statute to mean exactly what it says.” Concord Gen. Mut. Ins. Co. v. Patrons Oxford Mut. Ins. Co., 411 A.2d 1017, 1020 (Me.1980).

Section 110(2)(A) clearly and unambiguously sets forth when an employee prevails in a workers’ compensation commission proceeding. If an employer offers a certain level of benefits and the employee subsequently obtains or retains in any proceeding before the commission more than was offered by the employer, the employee has prevailed within the meaning of the statute. On the other hand, the employee does not prevail if he receives fewer benefits out of the proceeding than were offered by the employer before the proceeding was instituted. The method utilized by the commissioner in the present case to determine whether the employee prevailed, namely, comparing the employee’s actual level of incapacity at the time of the employer’s written offer, to the terms of the offer itself, to see if the employee’s refusal was reasonable, is not set forth in the express and unambiguous language of section 110(2)(A).

Moreover, our conclusion is consistent with the legislative intent of section 110(2). Before section 110(2) was enacted in 1985, an employee’s attorney fees were recoverable as long as the employee had “instituted proceedings ... on reasonable grounds or in good faith or that the employer ... had instituted proceedings.” See § 110(1) (setting forth when attorney fees are recoverable for injuries prior to effective date of section). By restricting the circumstances in which an employee may recover attorney fees to situations where the employee prevails, the legislature, by its 1985 amendment, manifested its intention to limit the award of attorney fees in workers’ compensation cases. In the present case, the employee was offered in writing a 70% level of benefits, and the commissioner awarded 69%. Since the employee did not “obtain or retain” out of the proceeding more than the employer’s offer, he was not entitled to attorney fees.

Finally, the commissioner’s placing on the employer a burden, in employer-filed review cases, to show that the employee’s actual level of incapacity at the time of the employer’s offer was less than or equal to its offer is unnecessary in light of our conclusion that the employee’s actual level of incapacity at the time of the offer is irrelevant in determining whether an employee prevailed within the meaning of section 110(2)(A).

The entry is:

Judgment vacated, and case remanded for further proceedings consistent with the opinion herein.

WATHEN, C.J., and ROBERTS, CLIFFORD and DANA, JJ., concurring.