WORKERS' COMPENSATION - VENUE - EX PARTE BILLY BARNES ENTERPRISES
In
Ex parte Billy Barnes Enterprises, [Ms. 2101158, Jan. 13. 2012] __ So. 3d __(Ala. Civ. App. 2012), the Alabama
Court of Civil Appeals held that for the purposes of determining appropriate
venue, a worker's compensation claim accrues at the time of the accident
causing the injury. In that case, the plaintiff was injured on the job
in January 2006. At the time, she lived in Washington County. She received
medical payments and temporary-total-disability compensation until she
reached maximum medical improvement in May 2009 (at which time she lived
in Tallapoosa County). Defendant argued that the plaintiff's claim
did not accrue until the date of her last payment of compensation, citing
Ala. Code ¤ 25-5-80 ("Where, however, payments of compensation,
as distinguished from medical or vocational payments, have been made in
any case, the period of limitation shall not begin to run until the time
of making the last payment."). The Alabama Court of Civil Appeals
disagreed, holding that the last sentence of ¤ 25-5-80 "does
not define when a claim accrues, but provides for the running of the statutory
limitations period to be tolled,
despite the fact that the claim has accrued" (emphasis in original). Because
it was undisputed that the plaintiff lived in Washington County at the
time the claim accrued (i.e., on the date of the accident), the fact that
she moved to a different county before she filed her worker's compensation
claim made no difference in the determination of the proper venue.
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