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Russell Morgan Landscape Management v. Velez-Ochoa

The employer failed to comply with the statutory requirements of the Workers' Compensation Act when it suspended its employee's temporary total disability benefits.

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On July 31, 1996, Gilberto Velez-Ochoa was injured in a work-related collision between a caterpillar tractor and the truck he was loading. His employer, Russell Morgan Landscape Management, paid Velez-Ochoa workers’ compensation benefits through August 11, 1997, when it suspended payments. Velez-Ochoa filed a claim with the State Board of Workers’ Compensation for improper suspension of his temporary total disability benefits. An administrative law judge “ALJ” held an evidentiary hearing to consider the claim on January 8, 1999. The ALJ concluded that Morgan Landscape had established that, as of the benefit suspension date, Velez-Ochoa had undergone a change in condition for the better and was able to return to work without restriction, and denied Velez-Ochoa’s claim for temporary total disability benefits after August 11, 1997. The ALJ also found that Morgan Landscape had failed to comply with the technical requirements of the Workers’ Compensation Act and Board Rules for suspension of benefits, and ordered it to pay an additional ten days of benefits, $1,100 in attorney fees, and a civil penalty of $1,000.

Velez-Ochoa appealed the ALJ’s ruling to the Appellate Division of the State Board of Workers’ Compensation. The Appellate Division accepted the ALJ’s findings of fact but overturned the ALJ’s conclusions of law with regard to the termination of Velez-Ochoa’s benefits. The Appellate Division ordered Russell Morgan to pay Velez-Ochoa temporary total disability benefits through January 8, 1999, the date of the hearing before the ALJ. Russell Morgan appealed the order of the Appellate Division to the superior court, which declined to issue an order within 20 days of hearing the matter, causing the order of the Appellate Division to be confirmed by operation of law. OCGA § 34-9-105 b.

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