Graves v. Brockway-Smith Co.

Summary

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court held that the six-year limitations period for a workers’ compensation petition under 39-A M.R.S. § 306(2) did not begin until the employer filed a first report of injury. The court concluded that this rule applied even though the employer was not required to file the report because the injury initially caused no lost work time. The court affirmed the hearing officer’s award of incapacity benefits to Richard Graves.

Holdings

1. The six-year limitations period under section 306(2) does not begin to run until the employer files a first report of injury, even when the employer was not required to file the report under section 303.
2. The employer’s medical payments did not trigger the six-year limitations period before the first report of injury was filed because those payments were made before the period provided in section 306(1) had begun.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the six-year limitations period under 39-A M.R.S. § 306(2) began to run before the employer filed a first report of injury with the Workers’ Compensation Board when the employer was not initially required to file that report under 39-A M.R.S. § 303.
2. Whether the limitations period was tolled until the employer filed the first report of injury, notwithstanding the employer’s payment of benefits.

Disposition

affirmed