Kyle v. Holston Group

Outcome

Excerpt

1. Workers' Compensation — settlement agreement — failure to include required biographical and vocational information The Industrial Commission erred in a workers' compensation case by failing to set aside a compromise settlement agreement based on a failure to comply with Industrial Commission Rule 502, and the case is reversed and remanded to the full Commission to enter an order vacating the approval of the agreement and for further proceedings as necessary, because: (1) plaintiff had not returned to work and was unrepresented at the time he entered into the agreement on 1 November 2004, and thus, the more specific requirements of Rule 502(2)(h) applied to the agreement; (2) defendants admit the agreement did not contain the required information including plaintiff's age, educational level, past vocational training, or past work experience, nor did it contain a certification that plaintiff was not claiming total wage Page 687 loss due to his injury; (3) it was statutorily impermissible for the Commission to approve the agreement without the required biographical and vocational information when the statute states the required terms must be in the agreement itself in order to be approved; (4) while one purpose of Rule 502(2)(h) may be, as defendants contend, to make sure the Industrial Commission is privy to the information required by the rule, the rule also serves to ensure that an injured worker understands what he is signing off on and agreeing to; (5) the special deputy commissioner did not have all the information required by Rule 502(h)(2) when she did not receive a reply from plaintiff and did not verify with plaintiff the information contained in defense counsel's memo before approving the agreement; and (6) although the Commission could have approved the agreement without the language concerning plaintiff's biographical and vocational information had plaintiff certified in