ROBERT L. WHITTAKER, DIRECTOR OF THE SPECIAL FUND v. SHERAL LEE BYARD; TITAN FABRICATORS, INC.; AND THE HONORABLE SHEILA LOWTHER, ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGE; AND WORKERS' COMPENSATION BOARD
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RENDERED: August 27, 1999; 10:00 a.m.
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED
C ommonwealth O f K entucky
C ourt O f A ppeals
NO.
1998-CA-003124-WC
ROBERT L. WHITTAKER, DIRECTOR
OF THE SPECIAL FUND
APPELLANT
PETITION FOR REVIEW OF A DECISION
OF THE WORKERS' COMPENSATION BOARD
ACTION NO. WC-96-00230
v.
SHERAL LEE BYARD; TITAN
FABRICATORS, INC.; AND THE
HONORABLE SHEILA LOWTHER,
ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGE; AND
WORKERS’ COMPENSATION BOARD
APPELLEES
OPINION
AFFIRMING
** ** ** ** **
BEFORE:
DYCHE, GUIDUGLI, AND JOHNSON, JUDGES.
DYCHE, JUDGE:
The Special Fund brings this appeal from an
opinion of the Workers’ Compensation Board affirming an award of
disability benefits to appellee Byard.
The sole question
involved herein is whether the Special Fund was joined as a party
in a timely fashion.
Byard received a work-related injury on December 7,
1995; appellee Titan Fabricators, Inc., his employer, paid him
temporary total benefits from December 8, 1985, through March 11,
1996.
His claim against Titan was filed October 21, 1997.
Special Fund was not joined until May 11, 1998.
The
The Special Fund
argues that the limitations period contained in Kentucky Revised
Statutes (“KRS”) 342.185 expired March 11, 1998, and it was thus
not timely joined as a party.
Byard argues here, as he did below, that the Special
Fund was timely joined, as he had no medical evidence which would
support such joinder until May 7, 1998; the joinder of the
Special Fund four days later was “as soon as practicable”
pursuant to the then-existing version of KRS 342.120(2):
A claimant may name the special fund as a
party in the original application for
benefits, or either party shall as soon as
practicable, by motion, unless there is a
showing of good cause, request the
administrative law judge to and the
administrative law judge shall, cause the
special fund to be made a party to the
proceedings if . . . (b) The employee is
found to have a dormant nondisabling disease
or condition which was aroused or brought
into disabling reality by reason of a
subsequent compensable injury by accident or
an occupational disease.
It was not until the doctor’s report was received on May 7, 1998,
that Byard had any reason to join the Special Fund.
Although the application of “as soon as practicable”
might appear to be problematic, it would be no more so than the
use of the same phrase in KRS 342.185(1) which mandates notice to
the employer notice of a work-related accident within the same
time period.
It is our duty to reconcile statutes if some
apparent conflict exists, with a view to promote their objects,
-2-
and carry out the intent of the General Assembly.
KRS 446.080.
And, as Chief Justice Palmore said,
[C]ompensation laws are fundamentally for the
benefit of the injured workman, a just claim
must not fall to rules of order unless it is
clearly necessary in order to prevent chaos.
Messer v. Drees, Ky., 382 S.W.2d 209, 212 (1964).
To allow the
Special Fund to be joined “as soon as practicable” in a claim
that has otherwise been prosecuted within the statutory period
would certainly not invite chaos.
We think this is the better
interpretation, and serves the purpose of the Act.
We trust in
the discretion of the Administrative Law Judges to make informed
and deliberative decisions as to when “as soon as practicable”
might be under the facts of each case.
The opinion of the Workers’ Compensation Board is
affirmed.
ALL CONCUR.
BRIEF FOR APPELLANT:
BRIEF FOR APPELLEE
SHERAL LEE BYARD:
David R. Allen
Louisville, Kentucky
Jeanie Owen Miller
Owensboro, Kentucky
BRIEF FOR APPELLEE
TITAN FABRICATORS, INC.
R. Christian Hutson
Paducah, Kentucky
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