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Waters v. Pleasant Manor Nursing Home, No. 104, September Term, 1999. WORKERS' COMPENSATION LAW - A claimant's maximum amount of permanent total disability compensation is determined by the applicable statute in effect on the date of the compensable accidental injury.

Circuit Court for Baltimore City Case #96311058/CL219633

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF MARYLAND No. 104 September Term, 1999 _______________________________________

MILDRED WATERS v. PLEASANT MANOR NURSING HOME AND INJURED WORKERS' INSURANCE FUND _______________________________________

Bell, C. J. Eldridge Rodowsky Raker Wilner Cathell Harrell JJ. _______________________________________ Opinion by Harrell, J. _______________________________________ Filed: October 10, 2000

Mildred Waters, Petitioner, challenges a judgment of the Circuit Court for Baltimore City. The Circuit Court affirmed an Order of the Workers' Compensation Commission (Commission) limiting an award of permanent total disability, paid by Pleasant Manor Nursing Home (the Nursing Home) and the Injured Workers' Insurance Fund (the Fund), Respondents, to the statutory amount in effect at the time of her compensable injury, rather than that applicable when she was determined to be permanently totally disabled. The Court of Special Appeals affirmed. Waters v. Pleasant Manor Nursing Home, 127 Md. App. 587, 736 A.2d 358 (1999). We granted Petitioner's petition for writ of certiorari.1 We affirm. Petitioner asks us to consider the following issue: Is the total amount of Petitioner's permanent total disability compensation established by the statute in effect when Petitioner became permanently totally disabled? I On 6 May 1973, Petitioner, a nursing assistant at the Nursing Home in Baltimore, was injured when she and another nurse's aide attempted to pull a patient out of a chair. According to the accident report that documented Petitioner's injury, the other aide mistakenly released the patient, shifting all of the patient's weight on Petitioner and causing Petitioner and the patient to fall to the floor. As a result of the fall, Petitioner sustained a back injury. Petitioner filed for workers' compensation benefits with the Commission on 15 May 1973. The Commission held a hearing on 10 August 1973 to address Petitioner's claim and found that Petitioner experienced a compensable accidental injury on 6 May 1973. The Commission awarded her temporary total disability benefits in an Order dated 5 September 1973. The Order directed the Nursing Home and

1

Waters v. Pleasant Manor Nursing Home, 356 Md. 495, 740 A.2d 613 (1999).

the State Accident Fund,2 its insurer, to pay workers' compensation benefits to Petitioner for five weeks, subject to further consideration. Although she returned to work at the Nursing Home for a brief time, Petitioner's physical condition did not improve, and she returned to the Commission for modification of her benefits. On six separate occasions from 1973 to 1987, the Commission held several hearings and issued Orders modifying Petitioner's award, ordering temporary total disability and permanent partial disability benefits. Upon the expiration of the permanent partial disability payments in 1991, pursuant to an Order dated 3 February 1987, Petitioner again requested a hearing to reopen her case. In a 13 June 1991 Order, the Commission found Petitioner permanently totally disabled and ordered permanent total disability payments, pursuant to Maryland Code (1957, 1972 Cum. Supp.), Article 101

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