High Tide on the Chesapeake for Claims
By Robert Warne - June 11, 2003
Maryland’s workers’ compensation system is stepping off the banks of history into the mainstream following a Maryland Court of Appeals decision June 6.
Although a foreign concept to Californians, Maryland has a statute on the books that was enacted in 1910 that bars claimants from collecting on claims if the injury occurred in the normal course of work.
A claimant had to prove that a workplace accident was a result of an “unusual activity,” to push a claim through the system.
Judge John C. Eldridge tossed out the accepted interpretation of the 93 old statute in a work comp matter that involved a high school cafeteria worker. Vernell Harris suffered a debilitating back injury after she attempted to prevent a 47 lb box of laundry detergent infested with cockroaches from contaminating the cafeteria.
Harris and another worker moved the box filled with roaches outside the building, transferred the detergent into another container and then resumed washing linens. She then bent down to get a scoop of detergent and her back went.
In his decision Eldridge explained that the “unusual activity” statute should be abandoned because it didn’t belong in the Workers’ Compensation Act and that it hadn’t been uniformly followed or applied.
The decision is expected to release a serious wave of claims that were either not filed or disallowed because of the statute. It also changes the landscape for cases currently moving through the courts and may reverse prior decisions. Initially the court’s decision is expected to raise work comp costs in the state by $100,000.
Now that Maryland is emerging from the dark ages of claims, state officials should pay close attention to California so it doesn’t end up in a similar unsterile emergency room in need of a massive legislative operation.
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