Stewart v. Ark. Glass Container

• Citation: 2010 Ark. 198,366 S.W.3d 358
• Decision Date: 29 April 2010
• Docket Number: No. 09–487.,09–487.
• Parties: Bobby STEWART, Appellant, v. ARKANSAS GLASS CONTAINER and Risk Management Resources, Appellees.
• Court: Supreme Court of Arkansas

2010 Ark. 198

366 S.W.3d 358

Bobby STEWART, Appellant,

v.ARKANSAS GLASS CONTAINER and Risk Management Resources, Appellees.

No. 09–487.

Supreme Court of Arkansas.

April 29, 2010.

Philip M. Wilson, Little Rock, for appellant.

Womack, Landis, Phelps & McNeill, P.A., by: David Landis and Dustin H. Jones, Jonesboro, for appellee.

ELANA CUNNINGHAM WILLS, Associate Justice.

This is an appeal from a decision of the Arkansas Workers' Compensation Commission denying a claim for additional benefits filed by appellant Bobby Stewart. After the court of appeals rendered its opinion in this case on April 22, 2009, appellee Arkansas Glass Container petitioned for review on the grounds that the court of appeals' opinion was in conflict with previous rulings of that court. This court granted the petition on October 1, 2009. Our jurisdiction is therefore proper pursuant to Ark. Sup.Ct. R. 1–2(e) and 2–4(c)(ii).

Stewart sustained an employment-related injury to his back on August 8, 2001. His employer, appellee Arkansas Glass Container, accepted the injury as compensable, and Stewart received temporary total-disability benefits until December 3, 2002. Arkansas Glass Container initially provided medical benefits, but controverted them after November 12, 2002. On December 6, 2002, Stewart sent a letter to the Workers' Compensation Commission requesting a change of physician. The Commission approved his request for a change of physician on January 23, 2003, changing Stewart's physician from Dr. Edward Cooper to Dr. William Hurst. Stewart last received medical treatment on June 19, 2003.

Stewart next contacted the Commission on October 20, 2003, when he sent a letter “formally requesting a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge ... to address [Arkansas Glass Container's] wrongful suspension of reasonable and related medical care.” In his “prehearing questionnaire,” Stewart asserted that the issue to be litigated was his “entitlement to additional reasonable and related medical benefits.”

A hearing was then held on March 19, 2004, before Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) Andrew Blood, who issued an opinion on June 28, 2004, finding that Stewart was entitled to additional medical treatment. At the conclusion of his opinion, ALJ Blood stated that “[m]atters not addressed herein are expressly reserved.” Arkansas Glass Container appealed Judge Blood's opinion to the full Commission, which entered an opinion and order on December 15, 2004, finding that Stewart did not prove he was entitled to additional medical treatment and thus reversing the ALJ's opinion. The Commission thus “den[ied] and dismiss [ed] Stewart's claim.” Stewart appealed the Commission's decision to the court of appeals, which affirmed the Commission. Stewart v. Ark. Glass Container, CA05–363, 2005 WL 3065876 (Ark. App. Nov. 16, 2005) (unpublished). The court of appeals' mandate was filed on December 7, 2005.

On December 21, 2005, Stewart sent another letter to the Commission asking it to “[p]lease consider this letter as a claim for additional benefits.” On January 13, 2006, Stewart sent another letter to the Commission asking for his case to be assigned to an ALJ and to have a hearing scheduled “on the issues of compensability, temporary disability, medical expenses, controversion, and attorney's fees.” On February 7, 2006, ALJ Blood sent counsel a letter confirming that Stewart had withdrawn his request for a hearing. The letter also noted that the file did not reflect the presence of a Form AR–C regarding the most recent hearing request and stated that the file was being returned to the Commission's general-files section.

Stewart wrote to ALJ Blood on March 2, 2006, renewing his request for a hearing. In this letter, Stewart contended that surgery he had undergone after the initial ALJ opinion, but before the reversal by the full Commission, demonstrated his entitlement to additional benefits, including “additional temporary disability, additional medical benefits, permanent impairment benefits when received, and wage loss benefits up to and including permanent and total disability.” Stewart further stated that he understood that he could file a claim for additional benefits for up to one year from the “final order ending litigation of the first claim for additional benefits” based upon this “new evidence.” In response, Arkansas Glass Container urged that Stewart's claims were barred by the statute of limitations because he had not requested additional benefits within one year of the last benefit provided to him.

ALJ Blood issued an opinion on April 3, 2008, finding that Stewart's present claim for additional benefits was not barred by the statute of limitations. The ALJ first noted that, from the date of the October 20, 2003 hearing request on the issue of “wrongful suspension of reasonable and related medical care” until the December 7, 2005 mandate from the court of appeals, Stewart's claim was in litigation. The ALJ further stated that the sole issue before the Commission at the time of the March 19, 2004 hearing was a claim for additional medical benefits, and issues regarding permanent physical impairment and wage loss were not addressed at that time because they were not ripe. In addition, the ALJ noted that all other issues had been “specifically reserved” in the June 28, 2004 ruling. The ALJ concluded that this express reservation included “the issues of temporary total disability, permanent physical impairment, and wage loss,” such that these issues were not barred by the statute of limitations.

Arkansas Glass Container again appealed the ALJ's decision to the full Commission, which reversed the ALJ's opinion on August 18, 2008, finding that the “present claim for additional benefits was not timely filed” and was thus barred by the statute of limitations. The Commission noted that, although the ALJ had relied on the “specifically reserved” language in its March 2004 opinion, nothing in the prehearing order and hearing notices or the June 28, 2004 opinion filed by the ALJ revealed that the parties ever reserved any additional issues, either implicitly or explicitly. The Commission continued:

At best, the Administrative Law Judge stated in the final sentence of his Award that “Matters not addressed herein are expressly reserved.” As the only requestfor benefits before the Commission at that time was whether the claimant was entitled to additional medical treatment was fully addressed and disposed of, there were no other matters pending before the Commission to reserve. The Administrative Law Judge had no authority to reserve issues that had yet to be raised. Moreover, the decision of the Administrative Law Judge was reversed by the Full Commission. Accordingly, whether it reserved any additional issues became moot when the opinion was not affirmed.

The Commission stated that there was “no question” that Stewart had not filed an initial claim for compensation because Arkansas Glass Container had accepted the claim as compensable. In addition, the Commission noted that it was undisputed that Stewart had never filed a Form AR–C officially requesting benefits, and his only requests of the Commission had come through correspondence from his attorneys. Stewart's last benefits were received on June 19, 2003, and he did not inquire about additional benefits until his December 21, 2005 letter advising that it was a claim for unspecified “additional benefits.” Thus, because Stewart's claim for additional compensation was not filed within one year from the date of the last payment of compensation or two years from the date of injury, the Commission concluded that Stewart's claim was time-barred by Arkansas Code Annotated section 11–9–702(b)(1) (Repl.2002).

Stewart appealed the Commission's opinion to the court of appeals, which reversed the Commission. Stewart v. Ark. Glass Container, 2009 Ark.App. 300, 307 S.W.3d 614. The court framed the issue as whether the tolling of the statute of limitations was claim-specific or benefit-specific. Id. at 4, 307 S.W.3d 614. The court stated that, until Stewart's March 2004 hearing for “additional medical benefits” was finally adjudicated and resolved by the court of appeals' December 6, 2005 mandate, “he could not have known what other additional benefits he was due, or the extent of his disability and resulting impairment.” Id. Thus, the court concluded that Stewart's “timely request for ‘additional medical benefits' tolled the statute of limitations until the claim was finally and completely litigated, not only on the general medical-benefit claim but on all benefits that might flow from that specific request.” Id. at 5, 307 S.W.3d 614.

Arkansas Glass Container filed a petition for review from the court of appeals' decision, which this court granted. When we grant review of a decision by the court of appeals, we review the case as though the appeal was originally filed in this court. See Cedar Chem. Co. v. Knight, 372 Ark. 233, 273 S.W.3d 473 (2008); Tucker v. Roberts–McNutt, Inc., 342 Ark. 511, 29 S.W.3d 706 (2000).

In this appeal, we must construe and apply Arkansas Code Annotated section 11–9–702 (Repl.2002). The question of the correct interpretation and application of an Arkansas statute is a question of law, which we decide de novo. Honeysuckle v. Curtis H. Stout, Inc., 2009 Ark.App. 696, ––– S.W.3d ––––, 2009 WL 3378528. It is for this court to decide what a statute means, and we are not bound by the circuit court's interpretation. Sykes v. Williams, 373 Ark. 236, 283 S.W.3d 209 (2008). When we construe the workers' compensation statutes, however, we must strictly construe them. Id.;Ark.Code Ann. § 11–9–704(c)(3) (Repl.2002). Strict construction is narrow construction and requires that nothing be taken as intended that is not clearly expressed. Hapney v. Rheem Mfg. Co., 341 Ark. 548, 26 S.W.3d 771 (2000). The doctrine of strict construction requires this court to use the plain meaning of the...