James Boehme v. Fareway Stores, Inc. and Iowa Insurance Guaranty Association, on behalf of Home Insurance Company, in Insolvency

Summary

The Iowa Supreme Court affirmed the denial of James Boehme’s claim for additional workers’ compensation weekly benefits and medical expenses. The court held that his claim was barred by Iowa’s three-year statute of limitations because it was filed more than three years after Fareway’s last voluntary payment, rejecting his equitable estoppel and third-party settlement credit arguments. The court also held that Iowa Code section 515B.2(b)(4) prevented recovery of attorney’s fees from Fareway or the Iowa Insurance Guaranty Association.

Holdings

1. Under Iowa Administrative Code rule 876-4.28(7), an issue raised before the deputy commissioner need not also have been decided by the deputy commissioner to be preserved for appeal to the commissioner.
2. Boehme's claim for additional weekly benefits was barred because it was not filed within three years after Fareway's last payment of weekly compensation benefits in February 1990.
3. Fareway was not equitably estopped from asserting the statute-of-limitations defense.
4. Future credits from a third-party settlement did not constitute payments of weekly workers' compensation benefits and therefore did not extend the statute of limitations.
5. Iowa Code section 515B.2(b)(4) prevented Boehme from recovering attorneys' fees from the Iowa Insurance Guaranty Association or Fareway, and the settlement agreement independently did not permit those fees to be charged against the future-benefit credit.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Boehme preserved his equitable-estoppel challenge to Fareway's statute-of-limitations defense even though the deputy commissioner did not rule on the issue.
2. Whether equitable estoppel prevented Fareway from asserting the statute of limitations.
3. Whether future credits arising from the third-party settlement constituted payments of weekly workers' compensation benefits that extended or restarted the limitations period.
4. Whether Iowa Code section 515B.2(b) permitted Boehme to recover attorneys' fees and litigation expenses from Fareway or the Iowa Insurance Guaranty Association.

Disposition

affirmed