State of Wyoming ex rel. Wyoming Workers' Safety and Compensation Division v. Shannon M. Gerrard

Summary

The Wyoming Supreme Court reviewed an award of attorney's fees to appointed counsel in a workers' compensation proceeding. The court held that Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 27-14-602(d) applied, but that the statute did not eliminate the hearing examiner's jurisdiction to award reasonable fees to an employee's appointed attorney. The court affirmed the fee award after determining that the unresolved shoulder-treatment claims and temporary-total-disability claim constituted the benefits at issue and that the fees were reasonable.

Holdings

1. Section 27-14-602(d) applies to the attorney's-fee award because the statute governs fees awarded in connection with the contested case; the OAH erred in concluding that the statute did not apply merely because the Division raised causation.
2. The 1995 amendment did not eliminate or limit the hearing examiner's jurisdiction to appoint counsel for an employee and award that attorney reasonable fees. The limitation that an award may not exceed the benefits at issue applies in the statutory context described by the amendment, including fees awarded to a prevailing employer, and did not preclude the employee's appointed counsel from receiving the reasonable fee awarded here.
3. The contested case included the temporary-total-disability claim and the unresolved left-shoulder claims, so the benefits at issue exceeded the $160.61 temporary-total-disability claim alone.
4. Although the original fee order lacked adequate findings and the OAH proceeded under an erroneous legal rationale, the Supreme Court affirmed the award rather than remanding because the record established that counsel was properly appointed, the fees were reasonable, and the award was within the benefits at issue.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 27-14-602(d) limited the award of appointed employee's counsel fees to the benefits at issue in the contested case.
2. Whether the OAH's finding that the case involved only the timeliness of the temporary-total-disability application was supported by substantial evidence.
3. Whether the Division's assertion that causation was an element of the temporary-total-disability claim made § 27-14-602(d) inapplicable.
4. Whether the OAH's fee orders contained adequate findings of fact and conclusions of law under Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 16-3-110 and W.R.C.P. 54(d).

Disposition

affirmed