Ford Motor Co. v. Gordon
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Appellant John Gordon suffered a compensible injury by accident while working at Appellee Ford Motor Company's production plant in 2000. Based on this injury, the Workers' Compensation Commission entered a series of awards of compensation to Appellant for various periods of temporary total and temporary partial disability. The last of these awards was in 2003 for temporary partial disability. In 2006, Appellant was temporarily laid off from his position at Ford because the plant was shut down. Appellant filed a change-in-condition application seeking temporary total disability benefits based on lost wages caused by the plant shut down. Ford defended against the 2006 application for benefits, by arguing that the twenty-four month tolling provision in Code §65.2-708 (C) could be triggered only once, when Appellant returned to work in a light duty position in 2000. The commission rejected Ford's argument and awarded Appellant the benefits he requested. On appeal, the full commission held that Appellant's change-in-condition was time barred based on the tolling provision in the code. A three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals reversed the commission; Ford moved for a hearing en banc, and the court again reversed the commission. On appeal, the Supreme Court held that the tolling provision runs anew under each successive award of compensation for a particular compensable injury, and is triggered on the last day for which compensation was paid. "Consequently. . . the statute of limitations was tolled through April 20, 2005 and that [Appellant's] change-in-condition application. . . was not time-barred under the statute."
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