Victor McKoy v. City of Fort Worth, Texas

Summary

The Texas Court of Appeals addressed whether the City of Fort Worth waived its right to contest the compensability or extent of additional knee conditions under the Texas Workers’ Compensation Act. Relying on the Texas Supreme Court’s intervening decision in State Office of Risk Management v. Lawton, the court held that disputes concerning the extent of an accepted injury are governed by the applicable medical-bill deadline rather than the sixty-day compensability deadline. Because the City contested the additional conditions within forty-five days of receiving the relevant medical documentation, the court affirmed summary judgment for the City.

Holdings

1. Once the City accepted McKoy's initial knee injury as compensable, a later dispute concerning the Baker's cyst, bursitis, and chondromalacia was an extent-of-injury dispute governed by the applicable forty-five-day deadline, not the sixty-day compensability deadline.
2. The City did not waive its right to contest the extent of McKoy's injury because it acted seven days after receiving the relevant medical documentation, well within the applicable forty-five-day period.
3. The trial court properly granted the City's motion for summary judgment.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the City's acceptance of McKoy's initial knee injury rendered Texas Labor Code section 409.021(c)'s sixty-day waiver provision applicable to later disputes concerning the extent of the injury.
2. Whether the City waived its right to contest the Baker's cyst, bursitis, and chondromalacia by failing to contest those conditions within sixty days after receiving notice of the initial injury.
3. Whether the trial court properly granted summary judgment for the City.

Disposition

affirmed