Josephine S. Chay v. State of Hawaiʻi, Department of Education

Summary

The Supreme Court of Hawaiʻi affirmed a Labor and Industrial Relations Appeals Board decision awarding Josephine S. Chay benefits for a 20% permanent partial disability arising from a work injury. The court held that substantial evidence supported the findings that Chay was not medically or vocationally permanently and totally disabled under Hawaiʻi law, including under the odd-lot doctrine.

Holdings

1. Chay was not medically permanently and totally disabled under Hawaiʻi Revised Statutes § 386-31 because substantial evidence in the whole record showed that she was not precluded from working.
2. Chay was not permanently and totally disabled under the odd-lot doctrine because substantial evidence supported the Appeals Board's findings concerning her psychiatric impairment, employability, vocational evidence, and reason for retirement.
3. Chay was no more than twenty percent permanently and partially disabled as a result of the June 4, 1998 work injury.
4. The court would address the merits despite Chay's technical violation of Hawaiʻi Rules of Appellate Procedure Rule 28(b)(4)(C) because the disputed findings were encompassed in the points of error and argument section of her opening brief.

Questions Presented

1. Whether substantial evidence supported the finding that Chay's psychiatric impairment did not render her medically permanently and totally disabled under Hawaiʻi Revised Statutes § 386-31.
2. Whether substantial evidence supported the finding that Chay was not permanently and totally disabled under the odd-lot doctrine.
3. Whether the Appeals Board adequately addressed the psychometric evidence, properly rejected the vocational expert's unemployability opinion, and properly found that Chay retired because she lacked motivation.
4. Whether substantial evidence supported the award of only a twenty-percent permanent partial disability rating for the work injury.
5. Whether the court should reach the merits despite Chay's technical failure to quote disputed findings of fact as required by Hawaiʻi Rules of Appellate Procedure Rule 28(b)(4)(C).

Disposition

affirmed