Opinion
CASE NO. 5084 CRB-3-06-4CLAIM NO. 300055651
OCTOBER 22, 2007
Errata Sheet
Please replace page six of the Compensation Review Board's Opinion dated June 18, 2007 with the attached page six. medical improvement was reached in the past, but the earliest the permanency benefits can commence is the filing date of the Form 36.Hyde v. Stop Shop Companies, 3728 CRB-4-97-11 (February 18, 1999);Crowe v. DBD, Inc., 14 Conn. Workers' Comp. Rev. Op. 283, 285, 1941 CRB-7-93-12 (September 11, 1995). Here, the respondents had filed a Form 36 seeking to establish that the claimant was at maximum medical improvement, and to commence permanent partial benefits in lieu of total disability benefits. Instead, as determined by three separate commissioners, that Form 36 converted benefits to temporary partial disability as of February 3, 2003. The issue of maximum medical improvement subsequently remained open until the parties reached an agreement on December 16, 2003, based on the trial commissioner's findings.
In order for the respondents to discontinue temporary partial disability benefits in favor of permanency prior to December 16, 2003, some additional step would thus have been necessary. The respondents did not file a second Form 36 seeking to terminate temporary partial disability benefits, nor is there any proof (such as an accounting record) that payments made after the February 14, 2003 maximum medical improvement date were either offered by the respondent or acknowledged by the claimant as permanency benefits that were being accepted in lieu of temporary partial disability. Therefore, the respondents must establish that a binding agreement was reached addressing the amount of permanency benefits that remained due in order to establish grounds for reclassifying any of the previously paid benefits as permanency.