Joe Polkey VS Creel Brothers, Inc. and LUBA Casualty Insurance Company
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STATE OF LOUISIANA
COURT OF APPEAL
FIRST CIRCUIT
2010 CA 0718
JOE POLKEY
j
VERSUS
LANDWORKS INC AND LUBA CASUALTY
INSURANCE COMPANY
Judgment Rendered October 29 2010
On Appeal from the Office of Workers Compensation Administration
District 11
Docket No 0902180
Honorable Elizabeth Warren Judge Presiding
Laurie W Maschek
Slidell LA
Stephen W Brooks Jr
Richard J Voelker
Covington LA
Counsel for Claimant
Appellee
Joe Polkey
Counsel for DefendantsAppellants
Landworks Inc and LUBA Casualty
Insurance Company
BEFORE PARRO GUIDRY AND HUGHES JJ
HUGHES J
This is an appeal from a judgment of the Office of Workers
Compensation OWC
awarding temporary total disability benefits For
the reasons that follow we amend and affirm as amended
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
On January 20 2009 Joe Polkey while in the course and scope of his
work as an employee of Landworks Inc Landworks
in Franklinton
Louisiana allegedly sustained injury to his left knee when a stack of tires
fell knocking him to the ground
Landworks refused to pay workers
compensation benefits Thereafter on March 17 2009 Mr Polkey filed a
Disputed Claim for Compensation with the OWC seeking to collect
workers compensation benefits penalties and attorney fees from his
employer Landworks and his employer insurer LUBA Casualty
s
Insurance Company LUBA
Following a hearing before the OWC the defendants were ordered to
provide followup medical treatment to Mr Polkey and he was further
awarded
temporary total disability benefits from the date of his injury
through August 7 2009 the date he became employed elsewhere
amounting to 6 a 2 penalty for the defendants failure to
04 00
083 000
pay medical benefits a 2 penalty for the defendants failure to pay
00
000
indemnity benefits attorney fees in the amount of 10 employee
00
700 s
costs in the amount of 445 and judicial interest from the date of
00
demand Defendants have appealed this judgment and make the following
assignments of error
Although Creel Brothers Inc Creel was originally named as Mr Polkey employer in his
s
March 17 2009 claim for workers compensation Mr Polkey amended his claim on April 27
2009 to substitute Landworks for Creel as the proper employer
E
1
The Workers Compensation Judge committed manifest
error in concluding that Mr Polkey sustained his burden of
proving an accident arising out of and in the course of his
employment with Landworks Inc on January 20 2009
2 The Workers Compensation Judge abused her discretion in
l
not allowing proffered relevant evidence or in not granting a
continuance to secure the testimony of a witness who was under
subpoena but did not appear at trial
3 The Workers Compensation Judge abused her discretion in
not strictly construing the penalty provisions of the Louisiana
Workers Compensation Act and imposing penalties and
s
attorney fees
NANDY
EXiA LI
y
11Y i
OWC Finding of Compensable Iniury
The Workers Compensation Act provides coverage to an employee
for personal injury by accident arising out of and in the course of his
employment
See LSAR 23
S 1031
A
An employee must prove the
chain of causation required by the workers compensation statutory scheme
as adopted by the legislature and must establish that the accident was
employment related the accident caused the injury and that the injury
caused the disability Clausen v D Construction 2001 0077 p 2
G
A
La App 1 Cir 2 807 So 1199 1201 writ denied 20020824
02
15
2d
La 5 816 So 851
02
24
2d
As
in
other
cases
in reviewing
the
OWC judge
s
factual
determinations including whether the employee has discharged his burden
of proof this court is bound by the manifest error standard of review
Lafleur v Alec Electric 2004 0003 p 4 La App 1 Cir 12 898
04
30
2d
So 474 478 writs denied 2005 0276 2005 0277 La 4 898 So
05
8
2d
1287 1288 Moran v G
G Construction 2003 2447 p 4 La App 1
Cir 10 897 So 75 79 writ denied 20042901 La 2 894
04
29
2d
05
25
2d
So 1148 Under that standard of review an appellate court may only
3
reverse an OWC judge factual determinations if it finds from the record
s
that a reasonable factual basis for the finding does not exist or that
examination of the entire record reveals that the finding is clearly erroneous
Stobart v State Department of Transportation and Development 617
2d
So 880 882 La 1993
Thus where two permissible views of the
evidence exist the factfinder choice between them cannot be manifestly
s
erroneous or clearly wrong
Id 617 So at 883
2d
Even though an
appellate court may feel its own evaluations and inferences are more
reasonable than those of the factfinder reasonable evaluations of credibility
and reasonable inferences of fact should not be disturbed on review where
conflict exists in the testimony Lafleur v Alec Electric 20040003 at p 4
In this case the defendantsappellants contend that the alleged
accident was uncorroborated and that evidence presented before the OWC
discredited Mr Polkey and cast doubt on his claim Defendantsappellants
further assert that the alleged accident was contrived by the claimant because
he was angry about being accused of theft in the workplace
Following the conclusion of the trial in this matter the OWC judge
gave oral reasons for ruling in favor of Mr Polkey stating in pertinent part
ve
I had the opportunity to listen to all the witnesses both Mr
Polkey and the witnesses for Landworks Right off the bat I
just want to say Mr Polkey came across to me as a very
credible witness I didn see any real glaring inconsistencies
t
with the description of the accident with the way it happened
and the way the witnesses corroborated the incident on January
20th of 2009
Before the OWC the defendants presented testimony that Mr Polkey was suspected of theft in
the workplace both from his employer of cash fees paid by customers and from a coworker
who claimed to have had a package containing an IRONMAN sweatshirt delivered to the
workplace that he did not receive and that he had not disclosed prior injuries on posthire
questionnaires submitted to the defendant as well as to other employers
employer
Defendantsappellants further point to the fact that just prior to the accident Mr Polkey had
informed his employer that he was tendering his twoweek notice of resignation as further
casting suspicion on the veracity of his subsequent claim of accidental injury
L
The first thing I wanted to start off with is I think there
was a lot put on the fact that Mr Polkey allegedly gave notice
of some sort that he had quit or that he was going to give his
twoweek notice He testified that he gave his twoweek
s
notice and he was intending to continue working for the rest of
those two weeks
Miss Emma who testified today actually corroborated
that
She said that he had given his two week notice that
morning And the more interesting thing was she testified
about the phone call Mr Polkey allegedly got from Detective
Stubbs and Miss Emma testimony was she said that Mr
s
Polkey said he had to take tomorrow evening off to meet with
the sheriff
So in other words that to me corroborates the fact that
whether or not he told somebody I quit it more probable to
s
me that he did tell Miss Emma I giving my twoweek notice
m
because otherwise he wouldn have a reason to say as far as my
t
workday tomorrow is concerned I going to have to take the
m
evening off to meet with the sheriff His timesheet shows that
he worked that day Apparently Miss Emma filled out that he
had worked from 8 to 11 and then wrote got hurt on it
The other thing too is I mean as far as just from a legal
standpoint the only thing I can really compare it to is if I
resigned today and I gave my twoweek notice if I walk back
to my office and trip and fall or hurt my back I still entitled
m
to Workers Compensation benefits
Now when I released to work eventually by my
m
physician I may not be entitled to any indemnity because I
ve
already intended to resign and I wasn intending to go back to
t
that job But I think for all our purposes today just based on all
the testimony I heard it appears to me that Mr Polkey did
indicate to Miss Emma that he was giving his twoweek notice
He was intending to actually be at work the next day but had to
meet with the sheriff
So for those reasons you know I don really give a lot
t
of credibility to any defense based on the fact that he had told
somebody he quit and then he got hurt after that All the
evidence indicates he was on the clock that day
As far as the incident itself Mr Polkey obviously didn
t
have any witnesses to the incident I solely going on his
m
testimony I entitled to rely on that testimony provided that
m
s
it corroborated by the circumstances after the accident and
nothing discredits it You know other evidence or other
witnesses
In this case the actual incident of tires falling on him and
knocking him to the ground and landing on the outside of his
or he testified that he had
knee was corroborated by his
water and leaf debris of some sort on him That was actually
corroborated by Mr Raymond Miller and Mr Barber who
indicated that when they came upon the scene shortly after that
his pants were wet and he had said he had had an incident and
he hurt his knee
5
s
It also corroborated by the Riverside Medical Center
records which indicate when he presented over there he said
that a pile of tires fell against the outside of his leg and then he
had a small joint effusion on his leg So there is objective
evidence in this case you know to corroborate his version of
the events
I think Mr Polkey was a credible witness And I
guess in general I think all of the defense witnesses were
credible too It just turned into one of these situations where
pretty much all of the testimony that I heard actually
corroborated a lot of the aspects of Mr Polkey claim
s
As far as any attacks on his credibility I think a lot was
made of these posthire questionnaires If you looking at it
re
from a 1208 aspect as far as you know did he make
1
misrepresentations on the posthire questionnaire that he filled
out for Landworks I don think I can make a finding of that
t
sort given that Dee Myers testified that the posthire
questionnaire was a different one from the one that was
originally filled out and she testified that his personnel file was
missing the original posthire questionnaire So you know as
far as that goes I don know what was on any original post
t
hire questionnaire
As far as the other posthire questionnaires being used to
impeach I guess it just got to a point where I kept hearing over
and over again the questioning about these prior accidents or
incidents either job related or not job related At the end of the
day there weren any that were in my opinion serious
t
Nothing that required like an extensive hospitalization no
surgeries anything like that
I guess you know I can believe his testimony when he
says you know I didn fill it out truthfully for those other
t
employers because I was just afraid I wouldn get offered the
t
job I don think that sufficient to defeat any of his testimony
t
s
regarding this incident I don think the two really have a lot to
t
do with each other mainly given the fact that they all seem like
minor injuries
He told the investigator Mr Hillman about all the
incidents except for the WalMart incident with his ankle You
know it clear from the statement he told him about the
s
incident with the pumpkin at Fresh Market the incident with
his nose at Rouse his non work related broken toe his finger
s
injury at the tree cutting service and the car accident which he
settled
Again I mean I think there was much that was trying to
be made of these incidents not being disclosed on posthire
questionnaires My problem with it is it did nothing to impeach
his credibility as far as this particular claim goes He met with
the investigator just nine days after the incident and he told him
everything So that line of questioning I guess really didn go
t
anywhere for me
0
Now he did have the one visit with Dr Chandler I think
Dr Chandler actually even mentioned that he had some
minimal swelling even on the date of that visit which was the
23rd
After that point it seems like based on all this other
attention that was being given to the sweatshirt incident and this
alleged missing money and the fact that he had given his two
week notice before the incident happened I think maybe in this
case the adjuster just probably lost sight of the big picture
which was you got an incident reported promptly
ve
immediately you got corroboration of that incident but all
ve
this other extraneous business about the theft or alleged theft I
think probably clouded the adjuster judgment on this one
s
And obviously we heard the testimony that Mr
ve
Polkey wasn even working the day that the package was
t
delivered with the allegedly missing sweatshirt
And Mr Hillman testified that his summary about the
statement he took was actually inaccurate If you read the
summary and you actually read the body of the statement it is
inaccurate in some respects
The testimony to me indicates that Landworks didn
t
have light duty you know at the time he ready or at least
s
lightduty
attempting to go back to work at Landworks on a
job He being told that there is nothing for him to do light
s
duty and that was essentially the end of it You know based on
that fact scenario you know to me that a denial of returning
s
him back to work in any capacity
So I find that he met his burden by clear and
s
convincing evidence that he entitled to temporary total
s
disability benefits from the date of accident January 20 2009
until
based on the Albertson information
s
August 7th of
2009 And obviously he entitled to return to treatment with
s
Dr Chandler
And as far as penalties and attorney fees again I do have
to say there were a lot of things you know the incident with
the sweatshirt and the incident with the alleged missing money
and you know his giving them the two week notice before the
incident happened again I think this probably would have
turned out to be a very simple claim It may even have turned
out to be
a situation where
he received
some
minimal
conservative treatment and was good to go back at some type of
job which would have cost a whole lot less than it already
s
cost
I don find that the adjuster denial in this situation was
t
s
reasonable on any level I think all this extraneous stuff not
related to the work injury again kind of clouded the judgment
on this one So for those reasons I find that the claim was not
reasonably controverted
7
After a thorough review of the record presented on appeal we
conclude that there was a reasonable factual basis presented for the OWC
s
judge factual finding that Mr Polkey sustained a workrelated injury to his
left leg on January 20 2009 during his employment at Landworks
Notably Mr Polkey reported the injury to his employer immediately after
its occurrence demonstrated severe pain in his left knee to his coworkers
and received their assistance in seeking emergency medical care Further
objective evidence of injury was documented by Mr Polkey medical
s
providers
With respect to the defendantsappellants contention that Mr Polkey
was angry about his being accused of theft and in order to strike back at
his employer
d
stage an accident only hours later we cannot say the
OWC judge was clearly wrong in rejecting this assertion
Although
accusations had been made against Mr Polkey concerning the alleged theft
of the package containing the coworker sweatshirt and missing petty cash
s
these allegations were not proven The testimony reflected that Mr Polkey
was not working on the day the sweatshirt was delivered and that other
employees had access to the petty cash
We also find no error in the OWC judge finding that the evidence of
s
Mr Polkey failure to fully list all of his prior injuries on posthire
s
questionnaires was insufficient to defeat his credible testimony regarding the
injury at Landworks The judge emphasized that all of the prior injuries
were relatively minor in that no extensive medical treatment was required
and that she believed Mr Polkey when he testified that he did not list these
a The testimony further revealed that the only reason Mr Polkey was suspected with respect to
the missing petty cash was that he was newly hired however he was not the only one under
suspicion Further the testimony revealed that the cash was required by company policy to be
kept in a locked box but the policy was not being followed during the time the cash went
missing
2
injuries on posthire questionnaires because he was afraid he would not get
the job Moreover we note that Mr Polkey did fully disclose these prior
s
injuries to the defendants investigator Justin Hillman on January 29 2009
nine days after the accident at issue herein and that none of the prior
injuries were to Mr Polkey left knee
s
Defendants also argue on appeal that disability sufficient to warrant a
finding of temporary total disability was not established
Defendants
nevertheless acknowledge that Mr Polkey was diagnosed with a left knee
sprain and possible medial collateral ligament sprain and medial meniscus
or
tear and that he was placed on light duty instructed to wear a brace and
bear weight on his leg as tolerated It is also not disputed that after receipt of
Mr Hillman report referenced hereinabove the defendants informed Mr
s
Polkey that lightduty work was not available at Landworks
We agree with the defendantsappellants to the extent that because
Mr Polkey was able to perform lightduty work it cannot be said that he
was totally disabled within the meaning of LSAR 23 Section
S 1221
c
1
c
1
1221 provides that compensation for temporary total disability shall be
awarded only if the employee proves by clear and convincing evidence
We note the discrepancy between a letter prepared by Mr Hillman which summarized the
content of the verbal interview and indicated that Mr Polkey disclosed to him only one prior
work related injury and the transcript of this interview which clearly showed that Mr Polkey
made a full disclosure of his prior injuries
5 See Louisiana Revised Statute 23 providing
1
1208
Nothing in this Title shall prohibit an employer from inquiring about previous
injuries disabilities or other medical conditions and the employee shall answer
truthfully failure to answer truthfully shall result in the employee forfeiture
s
of benefits under this Chanter provided said failure to answer directly relates
to the medical condition for which a claim for benefits is made or affects the
s
employer ability to receive reimbursement from the second injury fund This
Section shall not be enforceable unless the written form on which the inquiries
about previous medical conditions are made contains a notice advising the
employee that his failure to answer truthfully may result in his forfeiture of
s
worker compensation benefits under R 23 Such notice shall be
S 1208
1
prominently displayed in bold faced block lettering of no less than ten point type
Emphasis added
N
unaided by any presumption of disability that the employee is physically
unable to engage in any employment or self employment regardless of the
nature or character of the employment or self employment including but not
limited to any and all oddlot employment sheltered employment or
employment while working in any pain notwithstanding the location or
availability of any such employment or self employment
Although entitlement to temporary total disability was not established
the record on appeal nevertheless supports an award of supplemental
earnings benefits
Under the provisions of LSAR 23 an
S 1221
a
3
employee is entitled to receive supplemental earnings benefits if he sustains
a work related injury that results in his inability to earn wages equal to
ninety percent or more of his average monthly pre injury wage Initially the
employee bears the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence
that the injury resulted in his inability to earn that amount under the facts
and circumstances of the individual case This analysis is necessarily a facts
and circumstances one in which the court is mindful of the jurisprudential
tenet that workers compensation is to be liberally construed in favor of
coverage
Seal v Gaylord Container Corporation 970688 p 8 La
97
02
12 704 So 1161 1166
2d
Once the employee burden is met the burden shifts to the employer
s
who in order to defeat the employee claim for supplemental earnings
s
benefits must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the employee
is physically able to perform a certain job and that the job was offered to the
employee or that the job was available to the employee in his or the
10
s
employer community or reasonable geographic region Seal v Gaylord
Container Corporation 97 0688 at p 8 704 So at 1166
2d
See also
Hayes v Louisiana State Penitentiary 20060553 pp 12 13 La App 1
Cir 8 970 So 547 558 writ denied 20072258 La 1
07
15
2d
08
25
973 So 758
2d
The OWC judge in this case determined that the injury to Mr Polkey
sustained during his employment with Landworks resulted in his inability to
earn the wages that he earned prior to the accident at issue We are unable to
say the OWC judge manifestly erred in that determination Likewise the
record supports a finding that Mr Polkey was unable to earn ninety percent
of his pre accident wages His physician assigned him to light duty but
there was no lightduty work available at Landworks Mr Polkey did not
become employed again until August 2009 when he obtained a job with
s
Albertson
Further Landworks failed to provide Mr Polkey with the
medical treatment necessary for him to obtain resolution of his knee injury
Thus we conclude that Mr Polkey sustained his burden of establishing a
right to supplemental earning benefits which was uncontradicted by any
evidence submitted on behalf of Landworks that would show lightduty
We note that it is the employer who bears the burden of proving job availability and the
s
claimant postinjury earning capacity and the employer cannot shift this burden to the
employee by pointing to his lack of effort in seeking post injury employment In any case as
noted above an employer can discharge its burden by establishing the existence of a job within
s
claimant physical capabilities and within claimant or the employer community or reasonable
s
s
geographic region the amount of wages that an employee with claimant experience and training
s
can expect to earn in that job and an actual position available for that particular job at the time
that the claimant received notification of the job existence All of this can be proven without
s
the cooperation or participation of the employee Banks v Industrial Roofing Sheet Metal
Works Inc 962840 p 12 n La 7 696 So 551 558 n
5
97
l
2d
5
7 Mr Polkey testified that he continued to suffer with the injury to his leg which included
intermittent pain having a rubbing feeling in his knee having his knee give out on a regular
basis and necessitating his continued use of Aleve and a knee brace Mr Polkey explained that
he was unable to afford further medical treatment when the defendants refused to pay his medical
bills but he expressed the desire to return for medical treatments if the OWC would reinstate his
medical benefits because of continuing knee problems through the date of trial
11
work was otherwise available to Mr Polkey within the community or
reasonable geographic region
Although we find supplemental earnings benefits were owed rather
than temporary total disability benefits no amendment to the amount of
indemnity benefits awarded by the OWC is necessary since during the
period of time for which the benefits were awarded it was not established
that Mr Polkey earned any wages The amount of an award of supplemental
earnings benefits is based upon the difference between the claimant pre
s
injury average monthly wage and the claimant proven postinjury monthly
s
earning capacity Seal v Gaylord Container Corporation 970688 at p
8 704 So at 1166 Therefore Mr Polkey was entitled to the full weekly
2d
workers compensation benefit amount as awarded by the OWC
Refusal to Admit Video Evidence or Order Continuance
Defendants appellants next contend that the OWC judge erred in
refusing to admit a video taken by an investigator allegedly showing Mr
Polkey engaged in assisting in the erection of a tent or canopy even though
the investigator in question failed to comply with his subpoena to appear at
the trial of this matter or to allow a continuance of the trial in order to
secure the testimony of the investigator
On the issue of video surveillance the supreme court has stated that
evidence in the form of moving pictures or videotapes must be approached
with great caution because they show only intervals of the activities of the
subject they do not show rest periods and do not reflect whether the subject
is suffering pain during or after the activity Orgeron v Tri State Road
Boring Inc 434 So 65 68 La 1983
2d
Though surveillance video
evidence can be admissible in a workers compensation proceeding at the
discretion of the OWC judge when the proponent of such evidence fails to
12
establish a proper foundation and particularly when no witness is present to
authenticate such evidence an OWC judge refusal to admit such evidence
s
is not error See Rareshide v Mobil Oil Corporation 971376 pp 1617
La App 4 Cir 4 719 So 494 5034 writ denied 981595 La
98
22
2d
98
9
10 726 So 28 In the instant case the investigator who made the
2d
surveillance video Warren Martin was not available on the day of trial to
authenticate the video evidence therefore we find no error in the refusal of
the OWC judge to admit the evidence
Defendantsappellants further contend it was error for the OWC judge
to deny their motion for a continuance requested in accordance with LSA
P
C art 1602 for the purpose of procuring the attendance of Mr Martin
to the trial Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure Article 1602 provides
A continuance shall be granted if at the time a case is to
be tried the party applying for the continuance shows that he
has been unable with the exercise of due diligence to obtain
evidence material to his case or that a material witness has
absented himself without the contrivance of the party applying
for the continuance
Emphasis added
In order to be entitled to a continuance the moving party has the
burden of showing that he met the requisites set forth in Article 1602
Taking these factors into account the trial judge must consider the particular
facts in each case in deciding whether to grant or deny a continuance
Furthermore the trial court should also consider the effect a continuance
would have on the administration of justice See Taylor v Sauls 991436
pp 56 La App 3 Cir 9 772 So 686 690 writs denied 2000
00
6
2d
2802 2000 2805 La 12 776 So 461
00
8
2d
After an in camera inspection of the surveillance evidence submitted
on proffer to the OWC this court concludes the OWC did not abuse its
13
discretion to deny a continuance to the defendantsappellants At most the
evidence would show that on or about June 19 2009 a man who may have
been Mr Polkey walked about a yard while talking on a cell phone without
the aid of crutches or a knee brace for about two minutes that on or about
June 20 2009 the same man in two separate one to two minute video clips
was again walking around a yard that he then in a third thirty second video
clip walked to a truck opened the passenger door bent from the waist to
pick up a small object that had fallen from the truck and then got into the
truck and that later that day in four separate one to two minute video clips
the same man assisted two other men to assemble an outdoor canopy which
was supported by what appeared to be PVC poles approximately four inches
in diameter and that during this activity the subject man walked around
used his arms to hold and manipulate the poles bent from the waist about
four times and appeared to kneel for a few seconds to adjust a canopy tie
onto a pole Considering the fact that these video clips were taken some five
months after the accident at issue and that Mr Polkey did not deny being
able to walk without assistance other than immediately following the
accident or being able to lift objects and based on the other evidence
contained in the record this video evidence would not have been sufficient
to impeach Mr Polkey claim of a knee injury in this case Therefore we
s
are unable to say that the OWC judge erred in refusing to grant a
continuance to allow defendantsappellants additional time to compel
attendance of the investigator who made the surveillance videos
14
Imposition of Penalties
Pursuant to LSAR 23 when an employer fails to
S 1201
F
commence payment of benefits timely to pay continued installments timely
or to pay medical benefits timely both penalties and attorney fees are
recoverable unless the claims are reasonably controverted
A claim is
reasonably controverted when the employer has sufficient factual andor
medical information to counter evidence presented by the claimant Zavala
v St Joe Brick Works 20072217 p 9 La App 1 Cir 10 999
08
31
2d
So 13 2021 writ denied 20082827 La 1 999 So 762 See
09
30
2d
also Joseph v J Merit Constructors Inc 2001 1666 p 9 La App 1
E
Cir 6 822 So 72 7778 writ denied 20022295 La 4 840
02
21
2d
03
2d
So 1201
In the instant case the OWC judge found that the defendants had no
reasonable basis to controvert Mr Polkey claim and that he was therefore
s
8 Louisiana Revised Statute 23 provides in pertinent part
F
1201
Failure to provide payment in accordance with this Section or failure to consent
to the employee request to select a treating physician or change physicians
s
when such consent is required by R 23 shall result in the assessment of a
S 1121
penalty in an amount up to the greater of twelve percent of any unpaid
compensation or medical benefits or fifty dollars per calendar day for each day
in which any and all compensation or medical benefits remain unpaid or such
consent is withheld together with reasonable attorney fees for each disputed
claim however the fifty dollars per calendar day penalty shall not exceed a
maximum of two thousand dollars in the aggregate for any claim The maximum
amount of penalties which may be imposed at a hearing on the merits regardless
of the number of penalties which might be imposed under this Section is eight
thousand dollars An award of penalties and attorney fees at any hearing on the
merits shall be res judicata as to any and all claims for which penalties may be
imposed under this Section which precedes the date of the hearing Penalties
shall be assessed in the following manner
1 Such penalty and attorney fees shall be assessed against either the
employer or the insurer depending upon fault No workers compensation
insurance policy shall provide that these sums shall be paid by the insurer if the
workers compensation judge determines that the penalty and attorney fees are to
be paid by the employer rather than the insurer
2 This Subsection shall not apply if the claim is reasonably
controverted or if such nonpayment results from conditions over which the
employer or insurer had no control
s
15
entitled to penalties and attorney fees We find no abuse of discretion in this
ruling
CONCLUSION
For the reasons assigned herein the judgment of the Office of
Workers Compensation is amended to reflect that supplemental earnings
benefits were awarded to Joe Polkey rather than temporary total disability
benefits we affirm the judgment in favor of Joe Polkey as amended All
costs of this appeal are to be borne by defendantsappellants Landworks
Inc and LUBA Casualty Insurance Company
AMENDED AFFIRMED AS AMENDED
During oral arguments in this case counsel for Mr Polkey requested an additional sum of
attorney fees for representation of the claimant in this appeal However an appellee who wishes
to have a judgment modified revised or reversed must file an answer to an appeal in accordance
with LSAC art 2133 See LSA C art 2133 Comment a See also Starr v
P
C
P
Boudreaux 20070652 p 1 I La App 1 Cir 12 978 So 384 392
07
21
2d
9
II
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