State Compensation Insurance Fund v. Director, Office of Workers' Compensation Programs

ORDER

By a majority vote of the panel members the memorandum disposition filed April 10, 1987, is redesignated as an authored opinion by Judge Beezer. Attached is the opinion.

State Compensation Insurance Fund, Longshoremen and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Fund, and Marcel Garrigues [hereafter collectively referred to as Garrigues] appeal the Benefits Review Board’s decision that their obligation to pay disability benefits to Donald Watts is not limited to 104 weeks under 33 U.S.C. 908(f). Watts, a functional illiterate, sustained permanent back injuries while working for Garrigues as a longshoreman.

Garrigues claims that Watts’ illiteracy constitutes a preexisting permanent partial disability. Where an employee suffering from a permanent partial disability becomes further disabled on the job, his employer pays disability benefits for a specified period, after which the Special Fund assumes payment. Because Garrigues did not offer substantial evidence that Watts’ illiteracy is due to mental retardation or a learning disability, we affirm.

Background

Donald Watts suffered a serious back injury while working as a longshoreman in 1978. The administrative law judge determined…