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Mintyala v. State Fund5/30/1996
53 St.Rep. 503
Submitted on Briefs March 14, 1996.
Cindy Mintyala petitioned the Workers' Compensation Court for a hearing after the State Compensation Insurance Fund terminated her temporary total disability benefits. Prior to trial, the Fund filed a motion to dismiss, which the Workers' Compensation Court granted. Mintyala appeals.
We reverse and remand.
Appellant raises the following issue: Did the Workers' Compensation Court err in granting the State Fund's motion to dismiss Mintyala's petition for a hearing?
FACTS
In Mintyala's petition for hearing, she alleges that in August 1991 she injured her back and neck in the course and scope of her employment as a certified nurses assistant while employed with the Central Montana Medical Center. At the time of injury, her employer was insured by the State Compensation Insurance Fund (the Fund). Initially, the Fund accepted liability and paid out temporary total disability and various medical benefits.
Three years later, the Fund notified Mintyala that it would be terminating her benefits as of September 21, 1994. Mintyala filed a petition for mediation pursuant to ยง 39-71-2401, MCA, but the matter was not resolved. Following surgery on her back, Mintyala submitted a petition for a hearing to the Workers' Compensation Court in February 1995.
The petition alleges; (1) the Fund had unreasonably terminated Mintyala's temporary total disability benefits based upon illegally obtained medical reports; (2) the Fund had unreasonably refused to reinstate Mintyala's temporary total disability benefits, even though she had undergone surgery on her back January 31, 1995, and the Fund had accepted liability for the surgery; and (3) the Fund's conduct had been unreasonable in that when the Fund terminated Mintyala's benefits, it did not pay out permanent partial disability that the "illegally obtained medical reports indicated she was entitled to." The petition then requested an award of temporary total disability benefits, (retroactive to the date of termination), a penalty and reasonable costs and attorney fees.
Following discovery, the Fund notified Mintyala that she would be placed back on temporary total disability benefits retroactive to the date such benefits were terminated. On April 12, 1995, the Fund made payment for the period between September 23, 1994 through April 17, 1995. The Fund then filed a motion to dismiss Mintyala's petition because it had accepted liability.
The Workers' Compensation Court held a hearing on the Fund's motion to dismiss in June 1995. At that hearing, the Fund acknowledged liability for medical benefits and temporary total disability, and represented that it was current in the payment of benefits and that benefits would continue to be paid. At that point claimant's counsel, Andrew Utick, stated his belief that attorney fees and penalty were still at issue.
The court disagreed and ruled that a recent decision from the Workers' Compensation Court controlled, thus precluding attorney fees or a penalty. Paulsen v. Entech Inc. WCC. No. 9209-6591 (February 22, 1994). That decision was later appealed and affirmed by this Court but Paulsen had been decided pursuant to Section I, Paragraph 3(c), of the Montana Supreme Court 1988 Internal Operating rules, meaning the case is not available for future precedent. Paulsen v. Entech Inc. (1994), 269 Mont. 404, 888 P.2d 432.
After the hearing on the Fund's motion to dismiss, the Workers' Compensation Court issued a written order reflecting it's decision. According to the written order, the court decided Mintyala's entitlement to
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