Limitations Periods: Petition Filing

MONTANA SUPREME COURT DECISIONS

Preston v. Transportation Ins. Co. [12/01/04] 2004 MT 339 (No. 02-522) Petition for meditation before the Department of Labor pursuant to section 39-71-2401, MCA, et seq., is not commencement of an action for purposes of meeting the two-year statute of limitations for filing a claim to reopen a workers’ compensation settlement.

WORKERS' COMPENSATION COURT DECISIONS

Baker v. Transportation Ins. Co. [02/01/07] 2007 MTWCC 6 It would make little sense for this Court to require Petitioner to attempt to resolve a dispute concerning medical benefits when the entire claim was denied based on an ostensible running of the statute of limitations. It would have been futile for Petitioner to attempt any further piecemeal resolution of the claim after the claim was denied in its entirety based on a statute of limitations. Courts do not require exhaustion of administrative remedies when doing so would be futile. Mountain Water Co. v. Montana Dept. of Pub. Serv. Regulation, 2005 MT 84, 326 Mont. 416, 420, 110 P.3d 20, 22.

Auchenbach v. UEF [03/29/06] 2006 MTWCC 13 The Court found the elements of estoppel by silence and equitable estoppel satisfied where the UEF had a statutory duty to notify the mediation unit of its acceptance or rejection of a mediation recommendation within twenty-five days under § 39-71-520(2), MCA, failed to notify the mediation unit of its acceptance or rejection, let the sixty-day statute of limitation for filing a petition with the Court under § 39-71-2411(6), MCA, run on a pro sé claimant, and moved to dismiss based on the claimant’s failure to file her claim within sixty days of the mailing of the mediator’s recommendation.

Auchenbach v. UEF [03/29/06] 2006 MTWCC 13 As a fundamental matter of equity, the Court cannot allow a party to sit on its hands while a time limitation runs on a pro sé petitioner while, at the same time, ignoring its own affirmative statutory duty to act.

Re: Annetta Laundry [08/12/05] 2005 MTWCC 49 Where an insurer initially denies a claim but thereafter agrees to pay medical bills under section 39-71-615, MCA (1999), the subsequent agreement supercedes the original denial, in effect rescinding it, and places the claim in a status of being neither accepted nor denied. Therefore, until there is a second denial pursuant to section 39-71-615(3), MCA (1999), the two-year limitations period for filing a petition in the Workers’ Compensation Court does not commence running.

Kessel v. Liberty Northwest Ins. Corp. [08/04/05] 2005 MTWCC 45 In occupational disease cases, the two-year limitations period prescribed by section 39-71-2905(2), MCA (1995-2003), begins to run only after the medical panel evaluation required in section 39-72-602, MCA (2001), has been held, a panel report issued, and the insurer has denied liability after reviewing the report. The limitations period is not triggered by a pre-panel denial of liability.

Fleming v. International Paper [07/08/05] 2005 MTWCC 34 The statute requiring the claimant to petition the Workers’ Compensation Court for benefits within two years of an insurer’s denial of benefits, § 39-71-2905(2), MCA (1997-2003), is tolled during mediation. See Preston v. Transportation Ins. Co., 2004 MT 339, 324 Mont. 225, 102 P.3d 527.

Steck v. Liberty Mutual Northwest [3/10/03] 2003 MTWCC 17 Petition seeking medical benefits is time barred under section 39-71-2905(2), MCA, where commenced more than 2 years after the denial of the benefits. However, the bar does not extend to medical benefits which were not within the scope of the denial.

James v. UEF [10/22/02] 2002 MTWCC 51 Section 39-71-520, MCA, requires that following a benefits determination by the Uninsured Employers' Fund an aggrieved party must request mediation within 90 days, otherwise the determination is final. Since mediation is a prerequisite to filing a petition in the Workers' Compensation Court, §§ 39-71-2401(1), -2408(1), and -2905, MCA, a failure to request mediation within 90 days bars the Court from reviewing the UEF determination.