Split Supreme Court Says Workers Weren't Time-Barred from Reopening PD Claims

A divided West Virginia Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that delays caused by litigation over whether a worker's permanent partial disability award should be expanded to add new conditions will not take a worker outside the statutory time limit for reopening his claim. "We simply cannot countenance such an absurd or inconsistent construction of the governing workers' compensation statutes that would rule an injury compensable on the one hand, but then would deny an award of benefits therefor with the other hand," the majority said. Justice Allen H. Loughry II d...