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Bush v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board6/21/2002
Gary R. Bush (Claimant) petitions for review of an order of the Workers' Compensation Appeal Board (Board) reversing the decision of a Workers' Compensation Judge (WCJ), which had granted Claimant's petition for commutation of benefits pursuant to the provisions of Section 316 of the Workers' Compensation Act (Act), Act of June 2, 1915, P.L. 736, as amended, 77 P.S. §604.
An issue of first impression is presented: whether a claimant, who is receiving total disability benefits, may commute 360 weeks of future benefits into one lump sum commuted payment, while retaining a right to collect additional future weekly benefits at the expiration of the commuted segment of 360 weeks. We hold that he cannot.
The pertinent factual information is not in dispute. Claimant sustained serious injuries in 1976 while in the employ of Swatara Coal Company (Employer), for which he has been receiving weekly total disability benefits in the amount of $187.00 ever since. In addition to his total disability benefits, Claimant has a back-up award for the specific loss of a lower leg (350 weeks) and for facial disfigurement (10 weeks), both arising out of the same 1976 accident.
In December of 1996, Claimant filed a commutation petition seeking to obtain a lump sum payment of a portion of his total disability benefits. Claimant proposed the payment of $67,320.00 in one lump sum, which constitutes 360 weeks, or seven years, of his total disability benefits, and further proposed that he would resume his weekly benefits of $187.00 at the expiration of the seven-year commuted period. Employer opposed the petition, and a hearing was scheduled before a WCJ. Oral testimony at the hearing established that Claimant was receiving social security disability payments, augmented by similar payments to his wife on her own account and on account of their minor children, in the amount of $2,372.00 per month. Claimant also testified that he needed the funds from the commutation of his workers' compensation to pay off his home mortgage, replace the roof on his home, and install a heating plant to replace his wood burner.
On April 30, 1997, the WCJ granted the commutation petition. On appeal by Employer, the Board vacated the award and remanded the case to the WCJ for the purpose of making more specific findings on the question of whether the commutation was in the best interest of Claimant. Following an additional hearing, the WCJ issued another decision with specific findings on that issue and again approved the commutation. Employer again appealed, and the Board then reversed the WCJ's decision, holding that a commutation of a segment of total disability benefits violated the Act. The Board reasoned that a commutation must provide for the payment of all future benefits and end the relationship between the parties and settle all of their obligations to each other. This appeal by Claimant followed.
On appeal, Claimant contends that the Board erred in ruling that a commutation of a portion of total disability benefits violates Section 316 of the Act, by arguing that the Act contains no such limitation, and that cases relied on by the Board are not dispositive of this issue. Employer argues, on the other hand, that implicit in the Act is the requirement that a commutation of benefits must include the entire future amount due, not just a portion, and that prior cases of this Court have held that such a requirement exists.
Commutations of benefits are permitted under Section 316 of the Act, 77 P.S. §604, which provides, in pertinent part, as follows:
The compensation contemplated by this article may at any time be commuted by the board, at its then value when dis
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