Mattis v. Weaver Electric
Annotate this CaseTroy W. Mattis
Plaintiff and Appellant
v.
Weaver Electric, Inc. and IMT Insurance Company
Defendants and Appellees
[2000 SD 150]
South Dakota Supreme Court
Appeal from the Circuit Court of
The First Judicial Circuit
Charles Mix County, South Dakota
Hon. Lee A. Tappe, Judge
Michael F. Marlow and Sheila S. Woodward
Johnson, Heidepriem, Miner, Marlow and Janklow Yankton, South Dakota
Attorneys for plaintiff and appellant
Timothy A. Clausen
Klass, Stoik, Mugan, Villone, Phillips, Orzechowski, Clausen & LaPierre, LLP
Sioux City, Iowa
Attorneys for defendants and appellees
Considered on Briefs October 25, 2000
Opinion Filed 12/6/2000
SABERS, Justice
[¶1.] In this case, employee and employer stipulate to the material facts. The issue is whether Troy Mattis is automatically entitled to total permanent disability benefits after establishing that he suffers from an occupational disease as defined in SDCL chapter 62-8. The administrative law judge and the circuit court determined that Mattis must obtain a separate disability determination under SDCL chapter 62-4 prior to receiving workers’ compensation benefits. We agree and affirm.
FACTS STANDARD OF REVIEW[¶8.] The issue on appeal involves a question of statutory interpretation. “Statutory interpretation is a question of law, which we review de novo.” In Re Estate of Klauzer, 2000 SD 7, ¶22, 604 NW2d 474, 479. Additionally, when reviewing workers’ compensation statutes it is “a general rule that [they] should be liberally construed in favor of injured employees.” Moody v. L.W. Tyler Custom Combiners, 297 NW2d 179, 180 (SD 1980). However, “we will not liberally construe a statute to avoid a seemingly harsh result where such construction would do violence to the plain meaning of the statute.” Huepel v. Imprimis Tech. Inc., 473 NW2d 464 (SD 1991) (citations omitted).
[¶9.] WHETHER AN EMPLOYEE IS AUTOMATICALLY ENTITLED
TO TOTAL PERMANENT DISABILITY BENEFITS AFTER
ESTABLISHING THAT HE SUFFERS FROM AN
OCCUPATIONAL DISEASE AND IS UNABLE TO RETURN TO
HIS PRIOR OCCUPATION.
[¶10.] Mattis asserts that as a matter of law he is entitled to workers’ compensation benefits calculated as though he is totally disabled because he suffers from an occupational disease.[2] He reaches this conclusion by asserting that the legislature has deemed an occupational disease the equivalent of a total disability under SDCL chapter 62-8. This interpretation is flawed.
[¶11.] SDCL 62-8-1 states that “disablement” as used in SDCL chapter 62-8 means:
[T]he event of an employee’s becoming actually and totally incapacitated, because of an occupational disease as defined in this chapter, from performing his work in the last occupation in which injuriously exposed to the hazards of such disease. 'Disability,’ 'disabled,’ 'total disability,’ 'totally disabled,’ or 'total disablement’ shall be synonymous with 'disablement.’
(Emphasis added). Mattis concludes that the last sentence of this definition supports the proposition that “disablement” is the equivalent of “total disability” and “totally disabled.” This position fails to take into account that “disablement” is also synonymous with “disability” and “disabled.” While the terms “disability, disabled, total disability, and totally disabled” are deemed synonymous with “disablement” as utilized in SDCL chapter 62-8, they are not synonymous with each other. These terms recognize the distinction under workers’ compensation jurisprudence between “total” and “partial” disability. The mere reference to “total disability” and “totally disabled” as well as “disability” and “disabled” acknowledge that something less than “total disability” or “totally disabled” exist.
[¶12.] The legislature has chosen to refer to these distinctive levels of disability by the shorthand term “disablement” in SDCL chapter 62-8 instead of parsing out the varying degrees of disability under our workers’ compensation statutes. The definition of “disablement” includes more than “total disability” and continues to recognize the distinctions between “partial” and “total” disabilities contained in the workers’ compensation provisions.[3]
[¶13.] This very distinction is recognized by SDCL 62-8-17. That statute provides “[i]n the event a totally disabled employee shall engage in any renumerative work for any other employer, he shall thereby waive disability benefits or compensation under this chapter for such period as he is so engaged.” SDCL 62-8-17. The use of the term “totally disabled” by the legislature reflects the understanding that something less than “totally disabled” exists under SDCL chapter 62-8. By singling out only those employees who are “totally disabled” as the result of an occupational disease, the statute implicitly acknowledges that a worker may suffer from an occupational disease and not be “totally disabled.”
[¶14.] This interpretation is supported by SDCL 62-8-4 which incorporates workers’ compensation law into the Occupational Disease Disability Chapter. That statute provides in relevant part:
Where an employee of an employer subject to this chapter suffers from an occupational disease as defined in § 62-8-1, and is thereby disabled from performing his work in the last occupation in which he was injuriously exposed to the hazards . . . and the disease was due to the nature of an occupation or process in which he was employed . . . the employee . . . shall be entitled to compensation as provided in the workers’ compensation law, as if such disablement or death were an injury by accident, except as otherwise provided in this chapter; and the practice and procedure prescribed in the workers’ compensation law shall apply to proceedings for compensation for such diseases, except as in this chapter otherwise provided.
SDCL 62-8-4 (emphasis added). In accord with this statute the parties have stipulated that Mattis suffers from an occupational disease and is entitled to compensation. The remaining dispute is the manner these benefits will be determined. The statute clearly answers the question: “as provided in the workers’ compensation law.” Id. Additionally, in making this determination, “the practice and procedures prescribed in the workers’ compensation law shall apply to proceedings for compensation for such diseases.” Id.
[¶15.] This statutory language clearly incorporates the provisions of SDCL chapter 62-4 (Compensation for Injury or Death) into SDCL chapter 62-8 (Occupational Disease Disability). This statutory language defeats Mattis’ position that a claimant suffering an occupational disease is automatically treated as totally disabled. The workers’ compensation provisions of SDCL chapter 62-4 clearly distinguish between partial, total permanent and temporary disabilities. See SDCL 62-4-5 (compensation for partial disability); SDCL 62-4-3 (amount of temporary total disability compensation); SDCL 62-4-7 (compensation for permanent total disability).
[¶16.] Mattis asserts that resort to the compensation provisions contained in SDCL chapter 62-4 will in effect force him to prove his disability twice. However, the statutory process simply requires Mattis to 1.) prove that he suffers from an occupational disease as defined in SDCL chapter 62-8 and then 2.) prove the extent of his disability to establish the level of benefits to be provided. We acknowledge that these requirements may entail some overlapping evidence, but the legislature has provided two distinctly unique steps that must be followed to obtain these benefits.
[¶17.] Affirmed.
[¶18.] MILLER, Chief Justice, and AMUNDSON, KONENKAMP, and GILBERTSON, Justices, concur.[1]. The findings of fact state that “[t]he ingredients of the quick set cement are known to cause reactive airways disease following exposure. Dr. Hansen is of the opinion that the exposure to the cement caused the development of [Mattis’] reactive airway disease.”
[2]. SDCL 62-8-1(6) defines occupational disease as “a disease peculiar to the occupation in which the employee was engaged and due to causes in excess of the ordinary hazards of employment and includes any disease due or attributable to exposure to or contact with any radioactive material by an employee in the course of his employment.”
[3]. Mattis cites foreign authority to support his proposition that “disablement” equates only with “total disability.” Vincent v. United Nuclear Homestake Partners, 556 P2d 1180, 1188 (NM App Ct 1976). Yet the difference in definitions of “disablement” under the New Mexico system, upon which Mattis relies, and SDCL 62-8-1(3) defeats this position. See id. (defining “disablement” as “total physical incapacity by reason of an occupational disease”).
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