Nurse’s cumulative trauma comp claim not time-barred

The Supreme Court of Kentucky on Thursday reversed earlier rulings that dismissed a cumulative trauma claim filed by a retired nurse over her alleged failure to provide a reasonable notice of her injury.

Diane Anderson worked for Mountain Comprehensive Health Corp. in Whitesburg, Kentucky, as a nurse for 21 years. Ms. Anderson claimed she suffered work-related injuries to her neck, back and hands as a result of her employment and that her injuries “became so crippling that she resigned” in 2017. In 2017, she filed a claim for Social Security disability benefits and in 2018 she filed a workers compensation claim, dating her injury as the same day as her retirement in 2017, according to documents in Diane Anderson v. Mountain Comprehensive Health Corporation filed in Frankfort.

The hospital system filed a special answer, asserting Anderson’s claims were time-barred, according to documents. An administrative law judge, and later the Workers’ Compensation Board and a state court of appeals affirmed.

Yet the state’s highest court found that the earlier courts misapplied the law that justified their dismissal by not considering 2018 amendments to state workers comp law: “when reviewing whether notice was adequate in cases of cumulative trauma injuries, (amended law) establishes a two-year limitation period from manifestation date and an absolute repose period of five years from last injurious exposure.”

“As a matter of law … (the dismissal of) … (Ms.) Anderson's claim was an error, and therefore we reverse and remand,” the ruling states.