Limitations Periods: UEF Determinations

MONTANA SUPREME COURT DECISIONS
Flynn v. Uninsured Employers' Fund, 2005 MT 269 Under section 39-71-520, MCA (2001), an “appeal to mediation” of a determination by the UEF must be made within ninety days of the date of the UEF’s letter of determination, regardless of the date the letter of determination was mailed or the date it was received by claimant. Where the statute is clear on the ninety-day limit, additional time is not added for mailing under the provisions of M.R.Civ.P. Rule 6(e). Where the mediation requirement is not satisfied in a timely fashion, the Workers’ Compensation Court does not have jurisdiction over claimant’s petition.

Colmore, et al. v. Uninsured Employers' Fund, 2005 MT 239 Where claimant failed to notice UEF’s error in calculating benefit rate, and did not appeal that error within 90 days from the UEF’s determination of benefits pursuant to section 39-71-520, MCA (1999), the error could not be corrected where the interests of the uninsured employer, who is liable to the UEF for reimbursement of benefits paid, are also at issue. See also Hand v. UEF, 2004 MT 336.

 
WORKERS' COMPENSATION COURT DECISIONS
Florence v. Morales [02/24/11] 2011 MTWCC 5 Where the uninsured employers admitted that they missed the deadline for timely requesting mediation after a UEF determination, but argued that the Court should excuse their untimeliness because financial and health problems made it difficult for them to pursue their claim, the Court concluded the statutory time bar could not be equitably tolled.
Dostal v. Uninsured Employers' Fund [12/22/10] 2010 MTWCC 38 The correct statutes of limitations to apply to a workers’ compensation claim are those statutes which were in effect on the date of the claimant’s industrial injury.  Where Petitioner was injured while the 1991 statutes were in effect, the limitations now found within § 39-71-520, MCA, do not apply because they did not exist in the 1991 WCA.
Howe v. UEF [12/23/05] 2005 MTWCC 59 A pro sé petitioner’s letter clearly stating his or her disagreement with the Uninsured Employers’ Fund determination effectively puts the Uninsured Employers’ Fund on notice for purposes of filing a timely appeal to mediation.
Lawrence v. UEF/Hess [12/19/05] 2005 MTWCC 56 The limitations period found at § 39-71-520, MCA (2003), begins to run when the facts are such that the party seeking relief would have discovered the mistake in the exercise of ordinary diligence. Colmore v. Uninsured Employers’ Fund, 2005 MT 239, ¶ 42, 328 Mont. 441, 121 P.3d 1007. Where the petitioner exercises ordinary diligence in determining his correct wage and the employer has withheld evidence that may provide for a calculation different from that which was originally arrived at, § 39-71-520, MCA (2003), will not operate as a bar to consideration of the withheld evidence. Whether the wage information contained in the new evidence is an accurate reflection of the petitioner’s wage is a question of fact to be determined at trial.
Colmore v. UEF/Forgey [3/4/04] 2004 MTWCC 22 While section 39-71-520, MCA (1993), requires a claimant to appeal a UEF determination within ninety days, the section has no application to a determination that is based on mutual mistake of fact. Where claimant does not timely appeal, an implicit agreement arises regarding the correctness of the determination; that implicit agreement can be reopened where both parties were laboring under a material, mutual mistake of fact. (Note: WCC reversed on this ground in Colmore, et al. v. Uninsured Employers' Fund, 2005 MT 239.)
Hoff v. Uninsured Employers’ Fund [7/19/00] 2000 MTWCC 44 Although section 39-71-520, MCA (1999) requires a dispute concerning uninsured employers’ fund benefits to be appealed to mediation within 90 days from the date of the determination or the date the determination became final, a letter from the UEF to claimant discussing permanent partial disability benefits was not a determination regarding temporary total disability benefits and thus did not commence the running of the appeal period regarding TTD entitlement.
Hoff v. Uninsured Employers’ Fund [7/19/00] 2000 MTWCC 44 The triggering event for running of the 90 days to appeal to mediation from a determination of the uninsured employers’ fund under section 39–71-520, MCA (1999) is not receipt of the determination, but the determination itself.