 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Employee Leasing Services in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Parker v. Constr.5/26/1998
Reporter of Decisions
Argued: April 8, 1998
The employer, Walter F. Newell Construction, appeals from a decision of the Workers' Compensation Board granting the employee's motion for attorney fees and awarding $1,100 in employer-paid fees relating, in part, to services rendered prior to mediation. The Board concluded that, although the employer's attorney did not attend the mediation, the employer had been represented by counsel prior to the mediation, and therefore the employee was entitled to employer-paid attorney fees for pre-mediation services pursuant to 39-A M.R.S.A. Section 325(5) (Supp. 1997) and 39 M.R.S.A. Section 110(2) (1989), repealed by Maine Workers' Compensation Act of 1992, P.L. 1991, ch. 885, Section A-7. We affirm.
The employee, Daniel L. Parker, suffered a work-related injury on March 17, 1992, while employed by Newell. Parker filed a petition with the Board in 1994 seeking reimbursement for medical treatment. Newell retained counsel and filed an answer to the petition. Newell's counsel did not attend the mediation. The Board ultimately granted Parker's petition and awarded $1,100 in attorney fees and disbursements. Newell filed a petition for appellate review challenging the award of fees and we granted review pursuant to 39-A M.R.S.A. Section 322 (Supp. 1997).
Subsection 325(5) provides:
Attorney fees in cases in which the injury occurred prior to January 1, 1993. In cases in which the injury to the employee occurred prior to January 1, 1993, the amount of the attorney's fees is determined by the law in effect at the date of the injury and is payable by the employer. If the employee attended a mediation pursuant to section 313 after January 1, 1993 and was represented by an attorney, the attorney's fees may include compensation from the date of the mediation session.
39-A M.R.S.A. Section 325(5). At the time of Parker's injury in 1992, former 39 M.R.S.A. Section 110 provided, in pertinent part:
The employer may not be assessed costs of an attorney's fee attributable to services rendered prior to one week after the informal conference under section 94-B or, if the informal conference is waived, services rendered prior to the date of that waiver, unless a party adverse to the employee was so represented at that stage.
39 M.R.S.A. Section 110(2), repealed by P.L. 1991, ch. 885, Section A-7 (emphasis added). Applying section 325(5) and former section 110(2), the Board concluded that Newell was responsible for Parker's pre-mediation attorney fees because it had sought the advice of counsel prior to mediation.
Because the Board is the administrative body entrusted by the Legislature to interpret and apply the Act, we defer to Board interpretations of the Act "unless the statute plainly compels a different result." Nielsen v. Burns & Morrill, Inc., 600 A.2d 1111, 1112 (Me. 1991). The sole issue on appeal is whether, pursuant to 39-A M.R.S.A. Section 325(5) and former 39 M.R.S.A. Section 110(2), repealed by P.L. 1991, ch. 885, Section A-7, an employer may be required to pay an employee's pre-mediation attorney fees when it retains counsel prior to mediation, but the employer's counsel does not attend the mediation. We conclude that the Board's interpretation in this case is consistent with the plain language of former section 110. Section 110 provides that pre-informal conference fees are available if an employer was represented "at that stage." Id. The phrase "at that stage" is sufficiently broad to include the period prior to the mediation.
Moreover, former section 94-B, governing informal conferences, provides:
3. Representation. In
Page 1 2 Maine Employee Leasing Services
Employee Leasing Services
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Employee Leasing Services in your area.
|
|