Workers compensation – Preexisting condition

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WI Supreme Court

Case Name: Tracie L. Flug v. Labor and Industry Review Commission, et al.

Case No.: 2017 WI 72

Focus: Workers compensation – Preexisting condition

Tracie L. Flug suffered from two medical conditions——a soft-tissue strain, and a degenerative disc disease. The first was work-related (and has since resolved), the second is not. She underwent surgery in the belief it was necessary to treat her work-related soft-tissue strain. In actuality, it was treating the unrelated degenerative disc disease. The procedure left her with a permanent partial disability. Ms. Flug tells us Wal-Mart (her employer) must compensate her for this permanent partial disability because she believed, in good-faith, that the disability-causing surgery was necessary to treat her work- related condition. We hold today that an employee is not eligible for benefits under Wis. Stat. § 102.42(1m) if the disability-causing treatment was directed at treating something other than the employee’s compensable injury. Because Ms. Flug’s surgery treated her pre-existing condition, not her compensable injury, her claim must be disallowed. We reverse the court of appeals because it should have affirmed the Commission’s decision.

Reversed

Dissent: Roggensack, A.W. Bradley, Abrahamson

Concurring:

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.