Opinion
2024 CW 0442
07-29-2024
CHARLES JOHNSON v. STANTON'S APPLIANCE, LLC, AND BRIDGEFIELD EMPLOYERS INSURANCE COMPANY
In Re: Stanton's Appliance, LLC and Bridgefield Employers Insurance Company, applying for supervisory writs, Office of Workers' Compensation, District 05, No. 2304268.
BEFORE: CHUTZ, GREENE, AND STROMBERG, JJ.
WRIT GRANTED WITH ORDER. The portion of the trial court's April 24, 2024 judgment, which denied the Exception of Prescription filed by defendants, Stanton's Appliance, LLC and Bridgefield Employers Insurance Company, as to the claims of Charles Johnson ("Johnson") for medical benefits arising out of his alleged July 13, 2022 accident, is reversed. Louisiana Revised Statutes 23:1209(C) states: "All claims for medical benefits payable pursuant to R.S. 23:1203 shall be forever barred unless within one year after the accident or death the parties have agreed upon the payments to be made under this Chapter, or unless within one year after the accident a formal claim has been filed with the office as provided in this Chapter. Where such payments have been made in any case, this limitation shall not take effect until the expiration of three years from the time of making the last payment of medical benefits." This court has noted that the legislature has not provided for a developing injury exception to the commencement of prescription on a claim for medical benefits, as it has done for a claim for weekly benefits in La. R.S. 23:1209(A). See Boudreaux v. Angelo lafrate Construction, 2002-0992 (La.App. 1st Cir. 2/14/03), 848 So.2d 3, 8 n.3. Johnson's claim for medical benefits was filed on August 18, 2023 and was not made within one year of the date of the July 13, 2022 accident. Furthermore, his Disputed Claim for Compensation form discloses that "[n]o medical treatment has been authorized." Thus, we conclude the time constraints in La. R.S. 23:1209(C) have not been satisfied and Johnson's claim for medical expenses relating to the July 13, 2022 accident has prescribed. Accordingly, we grant the defendants' Exception of Prescription as to the claim of Charles Johnson against Stanton's Appliance, LLC and Bridgefield Employers Insurance Company for medical benefits arising out of his alleged July 13, 2022 accident, and we dismiss that claim. However, this matter is remanded to the trial court with instructions to allow the plaintiff, Charles Johnson, the opportunity to amend his Disputed Claim for Compensation to remove the grounds of the objection, if he can, within a delay deemed reasonable by the trial court. La. Code Civ. P. art. 934.
WRC
HG
TPS