State ex rel. Wyo. Workers' Safety & Comp. Div. v. Smith
Annotate this CaseAppellee sustained a compensable neck injury and, despite four separate surgeries to address it, never returned to work. The Workers' Safety and Compensation Division paid Appellee temporary total disability (TTD) benefits for thirty-six months, the maximum period allowed by Wyo. Stat. Ann. 27-14-404(a) and the Division's rules. The Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) awarded additional TTD benefits to Appellee, finding that each of Appellee's four separate surgeries was a second compensable injury, thus extending the amount of time the Division could pay TTD benefits. The district court affirmed the OAH's orders, and the Division appealed. The Supreme Court reversed and remanded, holding (1) under section 27-14-404(a) and the Division's rules, receipt of temporary total disability benefits is limited to a maximum period of thirty-six months; (2) under section 404(a), this limitation applies to all injuries resulting from any one incident or accident, encompassing situations in which the claimant receives multiple injuries simultaneously or a subsequent compensable injury as the result of a single workplace accident; and (3) because Appellee received benefits for a period of thirty-six months as a result of a single workplace accident, he was not entitled to receive additional TTD benefits.
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