Holmes v. National Service Industries, Inc., 395 S.C. 305

Summary

The South Carolina Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Appeals’ holding that Carolyn Holmes’s workers’ compensation claim was barred by the applicable two-year statute of limitations. The court held that substantial evidence supported the Workers’ Compensation Commission’s finding that Holmes knew or should have known of her compensable injury more than two years before filing. A dissent argued that the limitations period did not begin until a physician linked Holmes’s respiratory conditions to her employment.

Holdings

1. The claim was barred because substantial evidence supported the Commission's finding that Holmes knew or should have known, through reasonable diligence, that she had a compensable injury more than two years before filing.
2. The court declined to address the issue because affirmance on the statute-of-limitations issue was dispositive.

Questions Presented

1. Whether substantial evidence supported the Workers' Compensation Commission's finding that Holmes knew or should have known of her compensable injury more than two years before filing her claim.
2. Whether the Supreme Court needed to address whether the Commission's findings concerning compensability and causation were the law of the case after affirming on the statute-of-limitations issue.

Disposition

affirmed