CLAIM NO. E215595
Before the Arkansas Workers’ Compensation Commission
ORDER FILED JUNE 17, 1998
Upon review before the FULL COMMISSION in Little Rock, Pulaski County, Arkansas.
Claimant represented by the HONORABLE MICHAEL D. RAY, Attorney at Law, Crossett, Arkansas.
Respondents represented by the HONORABLE MARK ALAN PEOPLES, Attorney at Law, Little Rock, Arkansas.
[1] ORDER[2] This matter comes before the Full Commission on the claimant’s Petition For Clarification for an award of an attorney’s fee for prevailing in part before the Full Commission and on the claimant’s Petition For Re-hearing On Temporary Total Disability Benefits. After considering the claimant’s petitions and the respondent’s responses thereto, we find that the claimant’s petition for an attorney’s fee for prevailing in part before the Full Commission should be granted. In addition, we find that the claimant’s request for a hearing on the issue of temporary disability benefits is currently premature. Therefore, we find that the claimant’s Petition For Re-hearing On Temporary Total Disability Benefits must be denied. [3] The respondent appealed to the Full Commission in this case a decision filed by an administrative law judge awarding certain benefits. In an opinion and order filed on April 14, 1998, we found, in part, that the claimant proved by a preponderance of the evidence that she sustained a 16% anatomical impairment rated to the body as a whole, and we found that the claimant proved by a preponderance of the evidence that she sustained a compensable right side carpal tunnel syndrome. With regard to the claimant’s Petition For Clarification regarding an attorney fee, the respondent’s response to the claimant’s petition acknowledges that the claimant’s attorney is entitled to an attorney’s fee for prevailing in part before the Full Commission, and we likewise find that the claimant’s attorney is entitled to a fee for prevailing in part in the Full Commission’s April 14, 1998 opinion. Pursuant to Ark. Code Ann. § 11-9-715(a)(2)(B) and 715(b)(2), the claimant’s attorney is hereby awarded an attorney’s fee of $250.00 for prevailing in part in our April 14, 1998 decision, with one-half of the fee to be paid by the claimant and one-half of the fee to be paid by the respondent. [4] In our April 14, 1998 opinion, we also vacated that portion of the administrative law judge’s decision finding that the claimant is entitled to temporary disability compensation following her carpal tunnel surgery. We vacated that portion of the administrative law judge’s decision because the record indicated that temporary disability compensation was not an issue timely raised before the administrative law judge. The claimant did not appeal that portion of our April 14, 1998 decision to the Court of Appeals vacating the award, but instead filed the present motion for a remand to an administrative law judge to decide the temporary disability issue. [5] However, in assessing the timeliness of the claimant’s current Petition For Re-hearing On Temporary Total Disability Benefits, we note that the respondent has appealed to the Court of Appeals our April 14, 1998 decision which found the claimant’s right side carpal tunnel syndrome compensable. If the Court were to find that the claimant failed to establish the compensability of her right side carpal tunnel syndrome, then that decision would preclude any potential award of temporary disability compensation for the claimant’s post-surgical healing period for that injury. Since the respondent’s potential liability for temporary disability related to the claimant’s right side carpal tunnel surgery is directly dependent on the outcome of the respondent’s current appeal to the Court of Appeals, we find that the claimant’s present request for a hearing on the issue of temporary disability compensation must respectfully be denied as premature. [6] IT IS SO ORDERED.
ELDON F. COFFMAN, Chairman PAT WEST HUMPHREY, Commissioner
[7] MIKE WILSON, Commissioner