J. T. Thorp, Inc. v. Workers' Compensation Appeals Board

In this case of first impression in the appellate courts, we address the question whether an employee suffering from asbestosis can obtain workers’ compensation reimbursement for disease-related medical expenses incurred in the disease’s latent stages prior to the onset of any occupational disability. If so, does the pursuit of such a claim by the employee trigger statutes that limit the employer’s exposure for medical or disability claims to those filed within five years of the employee’s initial diagnosis even if the disease subsequently progresses to serious and disabling stages?

We conclude an employee suffering from asbestosis may obtain reimbursement for predisability medical expenses. Moreover, an award of such expenses does not prohibit the board from awarding additional compensation for medical expenses or for disability manifesting itself more than five years after initial diagnosis or treatment. We therefore affirm the board’s decision and award in this case.

In reaching our conclusion, we are called upon to interpret a complex statutory scheme not originally designed to deal with the peculiar problems of asbestosis. Although, as we shall see, workers’…