VERMONT WORKERS’ COMPENSATION UPDATE OCTOBER TO DECEMBER 2018

by Keith Kasper Esq.

VERMONT SUPREME COURT DECISION

Martel v. Connor Contracting Inc., 2018 VT 107 (Oct 12, 2018)(AJ Carroll)
Return to the Kittell specific intent to injure standard for exclusion to exclusivity doctrine for WC Act. Claimant falls off roof alleges substantial certainty of injury when Supervisor allegedly takes safety device off job site to use on another job site. “We hold that under Vermont law, an injured employee must show specific intent to injure. Exclusivity protections extend to co-employees and owner of company as “the duty to provide a safe workplace is a non-delegable corporate duty and the presence or absence of the [safety device] is part of the safe workplace equation.” Robinson and Reiber concur in mandate but argue that given the facts of the case it is “unnecessary … to readopt the specific-intent standard set forth in Kittell v. Vermont Weatherboard, Inc., 138 Vt. 439, 417 A.2d 926 (1980).”

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR DECISIONS

Bergeron v. City of Burlington, Opinion No. 14-WC( Oct. 15, 2018)(ALJ Brown)
Claimant starts treatment for mental injuries in May of 2016 and diagnosed with PTSD in March of 2017. In October of 2017 Claimant suffers a work-related back injury and files a claim for PTSD in January of 2018. On Defendant’s motion for summary judgment firefighter’s claim for PTSD governed by prior statute of unusual and extraordinary stress for similarly situated employees as Claimant discovered psychological injury and relationship to work prior to statute change on 7/1/17. Statutory amendment is substantive not procedural, thus applied prospectively not retroactively. Alternative theory that the portion of the statutory amendment giving a presumption of compensability for PTSD diagnosed within three years of injured employees last active date of employment means no claim can be made under the new statute for this presumption until 7/1/20.

Omerovic v. University of Vermont Medical Center, Opinion No. 15-18WC (Nov. 13, 2018)(ALJ Brown)
Ruling on treating mental health care provider’s motion to quash subpoena to testify in deposition. Department requires treating PA as to her evaluation of Claimant for PTSD. Both Claimant and Defendant supported subpoena. Department rules she must attend at reasonable time and place a be compensated for her time but she is not being forced to testify as an “Unretained Expert” in violation of V.R.C.P. 45 (c)(3)(B)(ii).

Abraham v. Mountain Communities Supporting Education, Inc., Opinion No. 16-18WC (Dec. 19, 2018)(ALJ DeBernardi)
Both parties cross motions for summary judgement denied. Claimant injured falling down stairs at home 4 hours after the end of her work day. Claimant alleges she fell due to the weight of carrying a safe up her stairs that she had used earlier in the day for a video shoot for her employer showing safe methods for storing prescriptions at home. Defendant alleges Claimant fell from non-work-related vertigo. ALJ finds: “Having considered the undisputed facts relevant to time, place and activity, I conclude as a mater of law that Claimant’s January 31, 2018 injury was sufficiently linked to her employment to have occurred in the course of it.” However, insufficient evidence showing that the injury arose out of the employment as “there are genuine issues of material fact as to the cause of Claimant’s fall and the role, if any, that her idiopathic conditions might have played. These facts are material because an unexplained fall is generally compensable, but an idiopathic fall is generally not.”

Huang v. Progressive Plastics, Inc., Opinion No. 17-18WC (Dec. 21, 2018)(ALJ Brown)
Defendant’s motion for summary judgment is approved as evidence supports finding that current complaints are related to previously settled 2014 injury and 2016 Settlement Agreement covers all future arising “natural sequella” of the 2014 work injury. Current claim for neck benefits not mentioned in prior settlement, but Claimant fails to bring forth any evidence “that Claimant’s neck injuries probably resulted from his work activities.” Thus, “Claimant has not established a genuine issue of material fact as to whether his current neck complaints are causally related to his 2018 alleged lifting activities.”