Patrick v. Christopher East Health Care

Summary

The Supreme Court of Kentucky held that a workers' compensation claim was barred by the two-year limitations period in KRS 342.185. The employer's delayed notice to the Department of Workers' Claims concerning its refusal to pay voluntary temporary total disability benefits did not toll the limitations period, particularly because the claimant received timely notice of the denial and filing deadline and still filed after the deadline.

Holdings

1. The regulation does not apply when no voluntary benefits were paid and does not require an employer to notify the Department within one week of refusing to pay voluntary temporary total disability benefits.
2. The limitations period runs from the date of the accident or the employer's last voluntary payment of income benefits, whichever is later; it does not run from the date the employer refuses to pay voluntary benefits.
3. Equitable estoppel was not warranted because Patrick received timely notice from the Department of the applicable limitations period and the employer's delay did not deprive her of notice while a reasonable filing period remained.

Questions Presented

1. Whether 803 KAR 25:170, Section 2(2)(a), tolled the limitations period because the employer did not notify the Department of Workers' Claims within one week of refusing to pay voluntary temporary total disability benefits.
2. Whether the employer's delay in reporting its refusal to pay voluntary temporary total disability benefits equitably estopped it from asserting the two-year limitations defense.
3. Whether Patrick's claim was barred under KRS 342.185 when she filed more than two years after the accident and had received no voluntary income-benefit payments.

Disposition

affirmed