2021 Georgia Code
Title 34 - Labor and Industrial Relations
Chapter 9 - Workers' Compensation
Article 1 - General Provisions
§ 34-9-16. Settlement of Questions if Approved Agreement Cannot Be Reached

All questions arising under this chapter shall be determined by the trial division and the appellate division of the board if the interested parties cannot reach an agreement which is approved by the board.

(Ga. L. 1920, p. 167, § 64; Code 1933, § 114-715; Ga. L. 1992, p. 1942, § 4.)

- For note on 1992 amendment of this Code section, see 9 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 285 (1992).

Administration of the workers' compensation law (see now O.C.G.A. § 34-9-1 et seq.) is vested in an administrative board, which is expressly empowered to hear and determine claims arising under the law, and, as between the parties, its award has the same effect as a judgment rendered by a court of competent jurisdiction. Rourke v. U.S. Fid. & Guar. Co., 187 Ga. 636, 1 S.E.2d 728 (1939).

Determination as to what credits employer may be entitled to is to be made by the board of workers' compensation. Taylor v. Sunnyland Packing Co., 112 Ga. App. 544, 145 S.E.2d 587 (1965).

Expert opinions are advisory and not binding upon a fact-finding tribunal when such opinions are as broad in scope as the question of fact at issue, such as the cause of death or disability. American Mut. Liab. Ins. Co. v. King, 88 Ga. App. 176, 76 S.E.2d 81 (1953).

Medical expert witness may give the expert's opinion as to the cause of an injury, but when the cause of the injury constitutes the ultimate issue of fact to be determined by the fact-finding tribunal, this opinion is not absolutely binding on such tribunal. Lockheed Aircraft Corp. v. Marks, 88 Ga. App. 167, 76 S.E.2d 507 (1953), overruled on other grounds, Fowler v. City of Atlanta, 116 Ga. App. 352, 157 S.E.2d 306 (1967).

Director was authorized to disregard conflicting medical testimony and draw the director's conclusions from the chain of events, facts, and circumstances attending claimant's loss of vision in the right eye. B.F. Goodrich Co. v. Arnold, 88 Ga. App. 64, 76 S.E.2d 20 (1953).

Diagnosis and treatment of injury and disease are essentially medical questions, to be established by physicians as expert witnesses, and not by laypersons. Pennsylvania Threshermen & Farmers Mut. Cas. Ins. Co. v. Gilliam, 88 Ga. App. 451, 76 S.E.2d 834 (1953).

Cited in Patterson v. Curtis Publishing Co., 58 Ga. App. 211, 198 S.E. 102 (1938); Complete Auto Transit, Inc. v. Davis, 106 Ga. App. 369, 126 S.E.2d 909 (1962); St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co. v. Bridges, 106 Ga. App. 621, 127 S.E.2d 699 (1962); Carpenter v. Newcomb Devilbiss Co., 111 Ga. App. 472, 142 S.E.2d 381 (1965); Baggett Transp. Co. v. Barnes, 113 Ga. App. 58, 147 S.E.2d 372 (1966); Davis v. Caldwell, 53 F.R.D. 373 (N.D. Ga. 1971); Hanover Ins. Co. v. Jones, 148 Ga. App. 236, 251 S.E.2d 60 (1978); Sadie G. Mays Mem. Nursing Home v. Freeman, 163 Ga. App. 557, 295 S.E.2d 340 (1982).

RESEARCH REFERENCES

C.J.S.

- 100 C.J.S., Workers' Compensation, § 812 et seq.