STATE OF VERMONT
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Ryan Wetherby Opinion No. 02-16WC
- By: Phyllis Phillips, Esq.
Administrative Law Judge
Donald P. Blake, Jr.
For: Anne M. Noonan
Commissioner
State File No. EE-65426
RULING ON CLAIMANT’S MOTION FOR FINAL JUDGMENT
This claim came before the Commissioner on Defendant’s Motion for Partial
Summary Judgment. The sole issue in dispute was whether Defendant’s
calculation of Claimant’s average weekly wage and compensation rate in
accordance with Workers’ Compensation Rule 15.4240 violated the parameters of
21 V.S.A. §650(a).
By Order dated January 25, 2016, the Commissioner concluded as a matter of law
that Rule 15.4240 was consistent with the statute, rationally based and validly
promulgated, and therefore that it was appropriate for Defendant to have calculated
Claimant’s average weekly wage in accordance with its terms. On those grounds,
the Commissioner granted Defendant’s Motion for Partial Summary Judgment.
Wetherby v. Donald P. Blake, Jr., Opinion No. 02-16WC (January 25, 2016).
Claimant’s underlying workers’ compensation claim remains open. There are
currently no claim disputes pending in which the Commissioner is actively
involved, nor any anticipated that might trigger additional scrutiny of the specific
legal issues already determined by the Commissioner’s January 25, 2016 Order.
Final resolution of these issues will determine whether Claimant is appropriately
compensated for past and/or future periods of indemnity causally related to his June
24, 2013 compensable work injury. With that consideration in mind, I conclude
that there is no just reason for delaying entry of final judgment. See V.R.C.P.
54(b). To the contrary, there is every reason to expedite it.
ORDER:
Claimant’s Motion for Final Judgment is hereby GRANTED. Consistent with the
Commissioner’s January 25, 2016 Ruling on Defendant’s Motion for Partial
Summary Judgment, and in accordance with V.R.C.P. 54(b), final judgment in
Defendant’s favor on the question whether Claimant’s average weekly wage has
been appropriately calculated in accordance with Workers’ Compensation Rule
15.4240 and 21 V.S.A. §650(a) is hereby ENTERED.
DATED at Montpelier, Vermont this ____ day of _____________, 2016.
_______________________
Anne M. Noonan
Commissioner
Appeal:
Within 30 days after copies of this opinion have been mailed, either party may
appeal questions of fact or mixed questions of law and fact to a superior court or
questions of law to the Vermont Supreme Court. 21 V.S.A. §§670, 672.