Horton v. Industrial Claim Appeals Office

Petitioners, Troy Horton, Trent Horton, and their insurer, the Colorado Compensation Insurance Authority (CCIA), seek review of a final order of the Industrial Claim Appeals Panel determining that the temporary total disability benefits payable to Mary Stuart Dill (claimant) should not have been suspended for the period from October 26, 1994, to December 26, 1994. We affirm. The facts are undisputed. Claimant sustained a compensable injury in 1992, and, at that time, petitioners admitted liability for temporary total disability benefits. From then until the events at issue here, none of treating physicians had opined that claimant had reached maximum medical improvement. On September 23, 1994, claimant's treating physician recommended that she undergo surgery to relieve the effects of the work-related injury. However, because claimant had sustained a fall in March 1994 that aggravated her pre-existing phlebitis, the surgery could not be scheduled until December 26, 1994 when the phlebitis treatment was completed.