Guesby v. Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center, Inc.

The defendants, an employer and its third-party administrator appealed to this court from the decision of the Compensation Review Board, which reversed in part the Workers' Compensation Commissioner's decision approving a form 36 filed by the defendants. During the course of his employment as a custodian, the plaintiff sustained a compensable injury and entered into two voluntary agreements with his employer. The plaintiff thereafter sustained another injury and two voluntary agree- ments were approved with respect to that injury. Subsequently, the defendants filed a form 36 seeking to discontinue or to reduce the plaintiff's workers' compensation benefits, asserting that the plaintiff had a work capacity and had reached maximum medical improvement. After formal hearings on the form 36 and on the plaintiff's entitlement to total disability benefits pursuant to statute (§ 31-307), the commissioner approved the form 36. The plaintiff appealed to the board, claiming inter alia, that the commissioner incorrectly concluded that further medical care of his compensable injuries would be palliative when that issue was not noticed for or litigated during the formal hearings. The plaintiff further claimed that the commissioner applied an improper standard in determining that his current disability was the result of preexisting, noncompensable injuries and, thus, not compensable under § 31-307. The board concluded that substantial evidence supported the commis- sioner's decision approving the form 36. The board, however, stated that it was persuaded that the manner in which the commissioner addressed this evidence impaired the plaintiff's right to a fair hearing. Accordingly, the board vacated the majority of the commissioner's con- clusions and remanded the matter for further proceedings. The board subsequently denied the plaintiff's motion for articulation or reconsider- ation in which he argued that a de novo trial before a different commis- sioner was required on remand, a