Help

BI’s Article search uses Boolean search capabilities. If you are not familiar with these principles, here are some quick tips.

To search specifically for more than one word, put the search term in quotation marks. For example, “workers compensation”. This will limit your search to that combination of words.

To search for a combination of terms, use quotations and the & symbol. For example, “hurricane” & “loss”.

Login Register Subscribe

Injured worker can receive disability benefits despite medical improvement: Court

Reprints

DENVER—A former manager of a Kentucky Fried Chicken fast food restaurant who hurt her back on the job can receive temporary total disability benefits, despite receiving a maximum medical improvement declaration for her injury, the Colorado Court of Appeals said last week.

Elaine Loofbourrow qualified for temporary total disability benefits because her back injury worsened after an employer-authorized doctor said her condition had stabilized, the court ruled.

"Indeed, although employer has contested the compensability of claimant's 2009 condition, there appears to be no dispute that her current condition has rendered her disabled and caused her a wage loss," reads the ruling in Elaine Loofbourrow vs. Industrial Claims Appeals Office of the State of Colorado et al.

Ms. Loofbourrow was diagnosed with a back strain in November 2008 after working a shift by herself at Kentucky Fried Chicken, according to court records. Harman-Bergstedt Inc., the franchise's owner, sent Ms. Loofbourrow to a physician who treated her and declared that she had reached maximum medical improvement in December 2008.

After Ms. Loofbourrow began experiencing back pain several months later, her personal physician determined that she had a bulging disc and told her she could no longer work in August 2009, records show. Harman-Bergstedt allowed Ms. Loofbourrow to be treated by its appointed physician in January 2010, but had contested the compensability of her injuries.

A Colorado administrative law judge awarded temporary total disability benefits to Ms. Loofbourrow. But the state's Industrial Claim Appeals Office later set aside the award, saying there had been no challenge of Ms. Loofbourrow's maximum medical improvement determination.

The appellate court said Harman-Bergstedt never closed Ms. Loofbourrow's original workers compensation claim, and that temporary total disability would cover a worsening of Ms. Loofbourrow's condition after maximum medical improvement.