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Surber v. Rockingham County Board of Education11/15/2005
An unpublished opinion of the North Carolina Court of Appeals does not constitute controlling legal authority. Citation is disfavored, but may be permitted in accordance with the provisions of Rule 30(e)(3) of the North Carolina Rules of Appellate Procedure.
In April 2000, Laura Surber ("Plaintiff") was employed by the Rockingham County Board of Education ("Defendant") as a physical education teacher, when she injured her knee while attempting to break up a fight between two students. As a result of her injury, plaintiff had knee surgery on 13 September 2000, which was paid for by defendant. At the time of plaintiff's injury, defendant failed to file any of the prescribed forms necessary to notify theIndustrial Commission of the accident and initiate a claim on the matter. Defendant's last payment of medical compensation for plaintiff's knee surgery occurred in December 2000.
In 2002, plaintiff began having additional problems with her knee, and contacted the third party administrator of defendant's workers' compensation program seeking permission to have the doctor who performed her knee surgery to re-examine her knee. The third party administrator informed plaintiff that the statute of limitations had run on the workers' compensation claim for her knee, and denied her coverage.
In November 2002, plaintiff filed a Form 18 with the Industrial Commission, notifying the Commission of the accident and seeking compensation for additional medical expenses incurred from her knee injury. Defendant asserted that plaintiff's claim was barred by the statute of limitations, and thus was untimely, based on North Carolina General Statutes, sections 97-24 and 97-25.1 (2004). Defendant argued that plaintiff's claim fell outside the statute of limitations, in that two years had elapsed since payment for her last medical treatment, and that she had failed to file the proper Form 18M with the Executive Secretary's Office in order to seek additional medical treatment. Defendant stipulated that should the Commission find that plaintiff's claim for additional medical treatment was properly before the Commission, defendant would pay for the additional medical treatment. The timeliness of plaintiff's claim was the sole issue before the Commission. On 8 January 2004, the Deputy Commissioner's Opinion and Award found that plaintiff had filed a timely claim for payment of additional medical compensation within the statute of limitations. The Commissioner also found that the form filed by plaintiff was the first document filed with the Commission on plaintiff's claim. The Commissioner found that plaintiff's claim was properly before the Commission, and thus defendant had no reasonable grounds to defend the claim based on statute of limitations. The Commission ordered defendant to pay plaintiff's additional medical treatment, and reasonable attorney fees. Defendant appealed the Deputy Commissioner's Opinion and Award to the full Commission.
On 1 December 2004, the full Commission affirmed the Deputy Commissioner's Opinion and Award, finding that plaintiff's claim for additional medical treatment was timely and not barred by the statute of limitations. The Full Commission affirmed the Deputy Commissioner's finding that defendant unreasonably defended plaintiff's claim based on statute of limitations, and awarded attorney's fees to plaintiff pursuant to North Carolina General Statutes, sections 97-88 and 97-88.1 (2004). Defendant now appeals from the Full Commission's Opinion and Award.
In the instant case, defendant has failed to comply with several of the requirements of the North Carolina Rules of Appellate Procedure, therefore we decline to reach a decision on the merits
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