Golden Animal Hosp. v. Horton, 94SC323

• Decision Date: 26 June 1995
• Docket Number: No. 94SC323,94SC323
• Citation: 897 P.2d 833
• Parties: GOLDEN ANIMAL HOSPITAL and Colorado Compensation Insurance Authority, Petitioners, v. Lawrence D. HORTON and the Industrial Claim Appeals Office of the State of Colorado, Respondents.
• Court: Colorado Supreme Court

Page 833

897 P.2d 833

GOLDEN ANIMAL HOSPITAL and Colorado Compensation Insurance Authority, Petitioners, v. Lawrence D. HORTON and the Industrial Claim Appeals Office of the State of Colorado, Respondents.

No. 94SC323.

Supreme Court of Colorado En Banc.

June 26, 1995.

Colo. Compensation Ins. Authority, Paul Tochtrop, Michael J. Steiner, Denver, for petitioner.

Eley & Eley, Craig C. Eley, Denver, for respondent Lawrence D. Horton.

Chief Justice ROVIRA delivered the Opinion of the Court.

We granted certiorari in Horton v. Golden Animal Hospital, 879 P.2d 459 (Colo.App.1994), to determine whether the court of appeals erred (1) in holding that the minors' statute, section 8-42-102(4), 3B C.R.S. (1994 Supp.), requires that the statute in effect on the date of the hearing on permanent disability benefits determines the rights and liabilities of the parties for those benefits; and (2) in calculating the permanent disability for the minor claimant. We reverse and remand to the court of appeals with directions to reinstate the Industrial Claim Appeal Panel's final order.

I

While employed at Golden Animal Hospital, Lawrence D. Horton (Horton) suffered a work-related head injury in 1983 when he was eighteen years old. A shunt was implanted in the base of his skull to allow excess spinal fluid to drain away from his brain. Horton continues to be at risk of a shunt blockage, a potentially life threatening condition.

In March 1987, Horton's primary treating physician determined that Horton reached maximum medical improvement. A hearing on his permanent disability claim was held in 1992. The Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) found Horton was 5% permanently impaired and awarded him $11,968.32 to be paid at the weekly rate of $84. The ALJ based this award on the maximum permanent partial disability rate found in section 8-51-108(1)(b), 3B C.R.S. (1986), the statute in effect in 1987 when Horton reached maximum medical improvement. ¹ Horton contested this order claiming under the minors' statute that his permanent disability benefits should be calculated at the compensation rate found in section 8-42-107(8)(d), 3B C.R.S. (1994 Supp.), the statute in effect at the time of the 1992 hearing. The ALJ agreed, issued a corrected order, and increased Horton's award to $32,411.35 to be paid at a weekly rate of $227.48. ²

The Industrial Claim Appeal Panel (Panel) set aside the corrected order and reinstated the original order finding that according to its expressed effective date, section 8-42-107(8)(d) applies only to injuries occurring on or after July 1, 1991. It defined the phrase "determination of such permanency" to mean the date upon which permanency is determinable. It found that "the date of maximum medical improvement severs the claimant's right to temporary disability benefits and invokes the claimant's right to receive permanent disability benefits." It rejected the interpretation that the date of the hearing is when permanency is determined because similarly situated claimants could receive different benefits based on the date their cases were set for hearing.

The court of appeals set aside the Panel's order. Horton v. Golden Animal Hospital, 879 P.2d 459 (Colo.App.1994). It found that "at the time of the determination of such permanency" refers to the date on which permanent disability is adjudicated. Id. at 461. It based this conclusion on the fact that the phrase was a part of the original predecessor statute to section 8-42-102(4), this language has remained unchanged since its adoption in 1943, and that it predates any statutory reference to maximum medical improvement, which did not appear in the Workers' Compensation Act until 1991. ³ Id. Based on this analysis, it concluded that the General Assembly could not have intended the determination of permanency to be linked to the date of maximum medical improvement. Id.

The court also held that the compensation scheme for permanently disabled minors under section 8-42-102(4) was adopted as an exception to the general rule requiring benefits to be computed based on a claimant's actual earnings. Id. It concluded that the General Assembly intended to provide permanently disabled minors with additional protection by ensuring their benefits would be computed at the maximum rate payable and therefore could have reasonably established the maximum rate as the rate in effect on the date of adjudication. Id. It held that the corrected order properly computed Horton's permanent disability award.

II Background

The Workers' Compensation Act of Colorado establishes the framework for calculating temporary and permanent disability benefits for workers injured in the course and scope of employment. § 8-40-101, 3B C.R.S. (1994 Supp.) It is a well-established rule that disability payments or death benefits are set by the law in effect at the time of injury or death. Bellendir v. Kezer, 648 P.2d 645, 647 (Colo.1982). Minors, however, are afforded special protection. Because they often work part-time at a substantially lower wage than adult workers and a permanent disability will extend over a longer working life than that of disabled adults, it would be inequitable to base their permanent disability benefits upon their earnings at the time of injury. De Jiacomo v. Industrial Claim Appeals Office, 817 P.2d 552, 554 (Colo.App.1991).

Section 8-47-101(5), 3B C.R.S. (1986) (now codified at § 8-42-102(4) (1994 Supp.)) (minors' statute) provides:

Where an employee is a minor and the disability is temporary, the average weekly wage of such minor shall be determined by the division as in cases of disability of adults. Where the disability is permanent or if benefits under articles 40 to 47 of this title accrue because of the death of such minor, compensation to said minor or death benefits to said minor's dependents shall be paid at the maximum rate of compensation payable under said articles at the time of the determination of such permanency or such death.

Prior to 1990, an employee was deemed permanently disabled from the time he was so declared by the director of the division of labor. § 8-51-108(1)(a), 3B C.R.S. (1986). Permanent partial disability was determined by ascertaining in terms of percentage the extent of general permanent disability which the injury has caused, taking into consideration "the general physical condition and mental training, ability, former employment, and education of the injured employee." § 8-51-108(1)(b). The director ascertained the life expectancy of the employee and then determined the total amount the employee would receive during the balance of his expectancy at the compensation rate of eighty-four dollars per week. Id. The award could not exceed the aggregate sum of twenty-six thousand two hundred ninety-two dollars. ⁴ Id.

In 1990, the General Assembly repealed and reenacted the Workers' Compensation Act. Ch. 62, sec. 1, 1990 Colo.Sess.Laws 468. In 1991, it further revised the act with the passage of S.B. 91-218. Ch. 219, 1991 Colo.Sess.Laws 1291. Though the minors' statute remained unchanged, the method for calculating permanent medical impairment benefits was changed. Under the new system when an injury results in permanent medical impairment not set forth in the schedule in section 8-42-107(2), the physician who has provided the employee with primary care determines when the employee has reached maximum medical improvement. Ch. 219, sec. 15, § 8-42-107(8)(b), 1991 Colo.Sess.Laws 1309. After the injured worker's maximum medical improvement date has been ascertained, the physician determines a medical impairment rating as a percentage of the whole person based on the revised third edition of the "American Medical Association Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment." § 8-42-107(8)(c), 1991 Colo.Sess.Laws 1291, 1309. Medical impairment benefits are determined by multiplying the medical impairment rating by a statutory age factor and by 400 weeks and is calculated at the temporary total disability rate specified in section 8-42-105, 3B C.R.S. (1994 Supp.). Ch. 219, sec. 15, § 8-42-107(8)(d), 1991 Colo.Sess.Laws 1310. A lump sum is paid automatically to the employee and the remaining amount of the award is paid out at the temporary total disability rate, but not less than one hundred and fifty dollars per week and not more than fifty percent of the state average weekly wage. Id. The General Assembly made this law effective July 1, 1991, and stated that it applies to injuries occurring on or after that date. Ch. 219, sec. 61, 1991 Colo.Sess.Laws 1291, 1342. ⁵

III

A

Petitioners Golden Animal Hospital and the Colorado Compensation Insurance Authority argue that the court of appeals erred in applying the 1991 and 1992 statutory changes to Horton's claim for permanent disability benefits. They maintain that the level of compensation afforded under section 8-42-107(8)(d) does not apply to Horton's injuries which occurred in 1983.

The primary goal in determining the meaning of a statute is to ascertain and give effect to legislative intent. Farmers Group, Inc. v. Williams, 805 P.2d 419, 422 (Colo.1991). If possible, courts determine legislative intent by giving words their plain and ordinary meaning. Id.

The General Assembly provided in S.B. 91-218 that "[t]his act shall take effect July 1, 1991, and shall apply to injuries occurring on or after said date." Ch. 219, sec. 61, 1991 Colo.Sess.Laws 1342. The plain meaning of this section is that it applies only to injuries occurring on or after July 1, 1991. Horton's injuries occurred in 1983 and therefore section 8-42-107(8)(d) is not applicable to his claim.

The General Assembly did not except minors' injuries from the effective date of the 1991 revisions of the Workers' Compensation Act, nor will we imply this exception. For the court to infer an implied exception is tantamount to judicial legislation. See Mills v. Guido's, 800 P.2d 1370, 1373 (Colo.App.1990) (court refused to infer an...