Haske v. Transport Leasing, Inc., Indiana
| Citation | 455 Mich. 628,566 N.W.2d 896 |
| Decision Date | 30 July 1997 |
| Docket Number | Docket Nos. 102444,103299,Nos. 1-2,s. 1-2 |
| Parties | Andrew B. HASKE, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. TRANSPORT LEASING, INC., INDIANA, Defendant-Appellant, and Woodlands Harvesting, Inc., Defendant-Appellee. John R. BAILEY, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. LEONI TOWNSHIP and The Accident Fund Company, Defendant-Appellant.(After Remand) Calendar |
| Court | Supreme Court of Michigan |
Conklin, Benham, Ducey, Listman & Chuhran, P.C. by Martin L. Critchell, Detroit, for Michigan Self-Insurers' Association.
Clark Hill, P.L.C. by Duane L. Tarnacki and J. Walker Henry, Detroit, for Michigan Manufacturers Association.
Daryl Royal, Dearborn, for Michigan Trial Lawyers Association.
AFTER REMAND
In this appeal, we are asked to review the Legislature's definition of disability in chapter 3 of the worker's compensation act, M.C.L. § 418.301 et seq.; M.S.A. § 17.237(301) et seq. We hold that a disability is a personal injury or work-related disease that prevents an employee from performing any work, even a single job, within his qualifications and training under M.C.L. § 418.301(4); M.S.A. § 17.237(301)(4). We also conclude that an employee must also prove wage loss in order to establish a compensable disability. To prove wage loss, an employee demonstrates that, as a consequence of work-related injury or disease, he has suffered a reduction in his earning capacity. The amount of benefits is based on the employee's actual wage loss.
In application, these basic principles operate to require that an employee must establish (1) a work-related injury, (2) subsequent loss in actual wages, and (3) a causal link between the two. Proof of the three elements will establish that an employee can no longer perform at least a single job within his qualifications and training, thus satisfying the first sentence of 301(4), and that he has suffered a loss in wages, satisfying the second sentence of subsection 301(4). 1 Consistent with the language of subsection 301(4) In Haske v. Transport Leasing, we hold that the Worker's Compensation Appellate Commission applied the wrong definition of disability in reversing the magistrate's grant of benefits for a partial disability. We affirm the Court of Appeals decision and remand to the WCAC to determine whether the award of benefits was supported by competent, material, and substantial evidence on the record.
proofs sufficient to permit the magistrate to find that the subsequent wage loss is attributable [455 Mich. 635] to the work-related injury establish a compensable disability. Absence of residual earning capacity is not part of the threshold definition of disability. 2
In Bailey v. Leoni Twp, the magistrate found that Bailey did not produce evidence that he suffered a loss of his earning capacity, but did so only in the context of applying an erroneous definition of disability. The WCAC applied the proper definition of disability and calculated benefits, but incorrectly stated that the magistrate found as fact that the employee was partially disabled. The Court of Appeals affirmed the decision of the WCAC. Thus, both appellate tribunals applied the correct definition of disability, but neither recognized that the magistrate did not make a factual finding of disability. We remand to the magistrate for further findings consistent with this opinion.
Plaintiff Andrew Haske worked for defendant Transport Leasing as a tractor-trailer driver. On May 18, 1987, he was injured in the course of his employment when his truck tipped over. He suffered injuries to his left arm and leg, and to his neck, which prevented him from engaging in heavy lifting. Haske did not return to Transport Leasing because he was unable to perform the heavy lifting associated with the job. On January 27, 1988, Haske began working for Woodlands Harvesting, driving a truck and hauling woodchips, gravel, and rocks. However, he had to stop working in early October, 1988 because the job also required heavy lifting that was too difficult for him as a result of his injury. On October 10, 1988, he began working for Enterprise Leasing as a road driver. He said this job was "easy" and that his injury did not prevent him from performing it effectively. In fiscal 1990, he earned approximately $10,500 at this job. His average weekly wage at Transport Leasing had been $596.75 a week, or approximately $31,045 a year, and he had earned $377.99 a week with Woodlands Harvesting, or approximately $19,760 a year.
Haske filed a claim for worker's compensation in December, 1987. In the opinion dated October 28, 1991, the magistrate granted him an open award of $239.46 in weekly payments of worker's compensation as a partial disability payment. By an amended order, the magistrate increased this payment by $117.63 a week. The magistrate found that Haske was totally disabled from the time of his injury, May 18, 1987, until he found work with Woodlands Harvesting on January 27, 1988, and thereafter that he was partially disabled.
Transport Leasing appealed to the WCAC. In a two to one decision, the WCAC reversed the grant of worker's compensation payments, except for the payments he received for the time he was totally disabled:
[W]e believe that the Magistrate improperly focused on plaintiff's physical limitations as opposed to the limitations on his wage-earning capacity. M.C.L. § 418.301(4) [M.S.A. § 17.237(301)(4) ].
The relevant inquiry is whether plaintiff has the ability to work at any other type of job by virtue of his qualifications and training. A physical limitation is not the equivalent of a "limitation of an employee's wage-earning capacity," because wage-earning capacity is not necessarily defined by physical ability alone. [1993 Mich. ACO 1300, 1302.]
Thus, the WCAC found that Haske had not suffered a loss of wage-earning capacity because he "[was] still able to perform work within his qualifications and training" as evidenced by his subsequent employments. Id.
The Court of Appeals granted leave to appeal and reversed and remanded in an unpublished per curiam opinion:
Although the WCAC majority correctly noted that physical limitation is not necessarily dispositive of wage earning capacity, it incorrectly concluded that plaintiff could suffer no loss of wage earning capacity as long as he remained capable of performing any work suitable to his qualifications and training. To the contrary, the relevant inquiry is whether there are any jobs suitable to plaintiff's qualifications and training which he is no longer fully capable of performing as a result of his work injury, not whether there are any other jobs suitable to his qualifications and training which he is still capable of performing. [Issued March 2, 1995 (Docket No. 167920).]
The Court of Appeals remanded the case to the WCAC for a determination whether the magistrate's award was supported by competent, material, and substantial evidence on the record.
Transport Leasing appealed in this Court, and we granted leave to appeal. 3
Bailey v. Leoni Twp.
Plaintiff John Bailey worked as a firefighter for defendant Leoni Township beginning in 1966. On July 21, 1987, he was injured while attempting to pull a driver from a vehicle, suffering sharp pain in his neck and shoulder. Bailey stopped working as a result of the injury in September 1987. On November 8, 1987, he returned to work, performing restricted duty of inspecting buildings. He continued to work until March 1988. While working for Leoni Township, Bailey also worked as a self-employed, part-time electrical contractor.
In May, 1988, Bailey had surgery performed on his neck, removing a disk and fusing one of the neck bones. In September 1988, Dr. Rawal sent a note to Leoni Township regarding Bailey's physical condition. The township responded that the only work available was full duty, as opposed to light duty, and, consequently, that there was no work available for Bailey. After Bailey exhausted his sick leave with the township, the township informed him that he was no longer an employee. In 1987, Bailey had been working a day or two a week as an electrical contractor, and, after convalescing from his surgery, he resumed his work in 1988 as an electrical contractor, now working approximately three days a week.
In June, 1988, Bailey sought worker's compensation. In an opinion dated November 27, 1989, the magistrate awarded him only "reasonable and related medical expenses" for his injury, but denied him weekly benefits:
Plaintiff has two suitable, skilled [employments] for which he is qualified[--]electrician and fireman. Even if he is unable to continue to work as a fireman, does he have a loss of wage-earning capacity if he is still able to work full time as a[n] electrician[?] No.
I believe this is precisely the situation the new definition of disability was enacted to address. Here is a man with two skills--fireman and electrician. Even if [he] is unable to perform one skill, he is still able to do the other. The fact that he is self-employed, works an average of 3 days per week, and earns for tax purposes ...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Sington v. Chrysler Corporation
...The Court of Appeals effectively concluded that under § 301(4)'s definition of disability as interpreted in Haske v. Transport Leasing, Inc., 455 Mich. 628, 566 N.W.2d 896 (1997), plaintiff was disabled and entitled to wage loss benefits. We conclude that the Haske definition of disabilit......
-
Mack v. City of Detroit
...577 N.W.2d 79 (1998), overruling Ensley v. Associated Terminals, Inc, 304 Mich. 522, 8 N.W.2d 161 (1943); Haske v. Transport Leasing, Inc., 455 Mich. 628, 652, 566 N.W.2d 896 (1997), overruling Rea v. Regency Olds/Mazda/Volvo, 450 Mich. 1201, 536 N.W.2d 542 (1995); W T Andrew Co. v. Mid-Sta......
-
Rowland v. Washtenaw County Road Com'n
... ... Nastal v. Henderson & Assoc. Investigations, Inc., 471 Mich. 712, 720, 691 N.W.2d 1 (2005). Questions of ... 26 Sington v. Chrysler Haske v. Transport Haske overruled Rea v ... Corp., 467 Mich. 144, 648 Leasing Inc., 455 Mich. Regency Olds/Mazda/Volvo, ... ...
-
Stokes v. Chrysler LLC
...rheumatoid arthritis. The magistrate granted claimant an open award of benefits, relying on Haske v. Transport Leasing, Inc., Indiana, 455 Mich. 628, 662, 566 N.W.2d 896 (1997), which defined "disability" as an injury that prevents the employee from performing any single job within his qual......