On The Job Injuries

Oklahoma Workers Comp Appeals

APPEAL TO OKLAHOMA WORKERS’ COMPENSATION COURT EN BANC

Upon completion of any hearing &/or trial, after a judge of either the Oklahoma City or Tulsa Workers’ Compensation Court has made a just and equitable order, decision or award, any injured worker, employer, insurance company, attorney or lawyer feeling dissatisfied by such order, decision, or award, can, within ten (10) days, appeal to the Oklahoma Workers’ Compensation Court sitting en banc by filing with either the Tulsa or Oklahoma City Workers’ Compensation Court a notice of such appeal. The Court en banc deciding the ensuing appeal will consist of three (3) judges of the Oklahoma Workers’ Compensation Court, none of whom which will have decided or ruled over any of the previous hearings on the injured employee’s claim.

STANDARD OF REVIEW OF DECISIONS BEFORE THE WORKERS’ COMPENSATION COURT EN BANC. The Oklahoma Workers’ Compensation Court en banc, after considering the merits of the appeal and hearing oral argument of the attorney and lawyer for the injured worker, the employer & its insurance company, can reverse or modify the trial court’s decision, order &/or award only if it determines that such decision of the Oklahoma City or Tulsa Workers’ Compensation Court was against the clear weight of the evidence or contrary to law. Upon completion of the appeal process, the three members of the Workers’ Compensation Court sitting en banc will issue its final order, decision or award as it sees proper, just and equitable. The following rules apply to any appeal filed by any attorney or lawyer with the Oklahoma Wokers’ Compensation Court sitting en banc:

Any order of the Oklahoma Workers’ Compensation Court sitting en banc which reverses a decision of the Tulsa or Oklahoma City trial judge must contain specific findings to explain such reversal.
All orders, decisions or awards entered by the three-judge panel must be approved by a majority of the members of the Court sitting en banc.
All proceedings of the Court sitting en banc must be recorded by a court reporter of the Oklahoma City or Tulsa Workers’ Compensation court.
Appeals to the Court en banc are allowed on a question of law or a question of fact, or a mixed question of law and fact, and are determined on the record made before the Oklahoma City or Tulsa trial judge. No new evidence will be allowed.

INTEREST ON APPEALS FILED BY EMPLOYER TO COURT EN BANC. When any order or decision entered by a judge of either the Oklahoma City or Tulsa Workers’ Compensation Court is entered in favor of and an award is made for the benefit of the injured employee and such order or decision is appealed by the worker’s employer or its insurance company, interest must be paid on the accrued amounts of the award due from the date the award was filed, if the award is not modified or vacated on appeal.

COURT COSTS FOR FILING EN BANC APPEAL. In each case filed with the Court en banc, and at the time of filing the same, the appealing party’s attorney or lawyer must pay the Oklahoma City or Tulsa Workers’ Compensation Court clerk as costs One Hundred Seventy-five Dollars ($175.00).

PROCEDURAL REQUIREMENTS FOR FILING APPEALS WITH OKLAHOMA WORKERS’ COMPENSATION COURT EN BANC: Appeals to the three-judge panel are taken by an attorney or lawyer filing an original and two (2) copies of a Request for Review within ten (10) days* from the date the order appealed from was filed with the Oklahoma City or Tulsa Workers’ Compensation Court as reflected by the date of the file stamp thereon. The Request for Review must include the following:

The name of the trial judge from whose decision the appeal is taken;
A copy of the order appealed;
A specific statement of each conclusion of law and finding of fact urged as error. General allegations will not be accepted. General allegations of error include statements that the decision of the trial judge is “against the clear weight of the evidence or contrary to law”. The party or parties appealing to the three-judge panel will be bound by the allegations of error contained in the Request for Review and will be deemed to have waived all others; and
A brief statement of the relief sought.

NOTE: When computing the 10-day appeal filing deadline intermediate weekends, holidays and any other day when the workers’ comp courthouse is not open all day are NOT included in the computation.

No response to a Request for Review is necessary. A motion to Dismiss an Appeal for lack of jurisdiction based upon the time lines of the appeal, may be filed by the non-appealing party.

PREPARATION OF RECORD ON APPEAL BEFORE COURT EN BANC. A designation of record MUST be filed with the Tulsa or Oklahoma City Workers’ Compensation Court by the appealing party &/or his or her attorney or lawyer and a copy submitted to the court reporter and all other parties in the case concurrently with or prior to filing a Request for Review in all actions which are appealed to the three-judge panel. The cost of preparing the transcript must be advanced forthwith by the designating party. Thereafter, the transcript shall be prepared and sent to all parties to the appeal within forty-five (45) days from the date the designation of record is filed.

BRIEFS IN PROCEEDINGS BEFORE THE OKLAHOMA WORKERS’ COMPENSATION COURT EN BANC: Where a party’s attorney or lawyer believes that a memoranda brief would aid the three-judge panel in its determination, the party can submit the brief and two copies thereof to the three-judge panel on the date of oral argument. The attorney or lawyer offering said brief must provide all opposing parties with a copy of the memoranda brief not later than three (3) days prior to oral argument.

NOTE: Any Memoranda brief shall not exceed five pages in length and submitted on 8 ½” x 11″ paper with one inch margins and must be double-spaced.

ORAL ARGUMENT IN OKLAHOMA WORKERS’ COMPENSATION COURT EN BANC PROCEEDINGS: Oral argument shall be limited to ten (10) minutes to each side unless the time is enlarged by leave of the Court. Any party failing to appear when the appeal is called for oral argument shall be deemed as having waived the right to argue the case and the appeal shall be considered as being submitted on the record. If a basis of the appeal involves medical evidence, other disputed questions of fact, or if there is controlling or significant appellate authority, three copies of the relevant document(s), relevant portions of the trial transcript, deposition testimony, or decisions shall be presented to the three-judge panel at the time of oral argument and shall be exchanged with opposing parties prior to oral argument.

WORKERS’ COMP APPEAL TO THE OKLAHOMA SUPREME COURT

Any injured employee, his or her employer, its insurance company or attorney or lawyer of record dissatisfied with and intending to take appeal of a final order of the Oklahoma Workers’ Compensation Court, that being defined as either a decision of a judge of either the Oklahoma City or Tulsa Workers’ Compensation Court or from the final order on appeal of the Oklahoma Workers’ Compensation Court sitting en banc, can appeal such order to the Oklahoma Supreme Court. To be clear–any final order, decision or award of a trial judge of the Oklahoma Workers’ Compensation Court or Workers’ Compensation Court en banc, will be final and conclusive of the rights between the parties unless, within twenty (20) days* after a copy of such order, decision or award has been sent to the parties affected, an action is commenced in the Oklahoma Supreme Court, to review such order, decision or award. The Supreme Court can modify, reverse, remand for rehearing, or set aside the order or award upon any of the following grounds:

The Oklahoma Workers’ Compensation Court acted without or in excess of its powers;
The order or award was contrary to law;
The order or award was procured by fraud; or
The order or award was against the clear weight of the evidence.

*NOTE: When the last day of the 20-day appeal deadline period falls on a Saturday, Sunday, a legal holiday or any other day when the Supreme Court Clerk’s office is not open during the full business day (until 4:00 p.m.), the period shall stand extended to include the next ensuing full business day. Furthermore–the 20-day appeal filing deadline is always computed by excluding the first day and including the last day

FILING REQUIREMENTS FOR SUPREME COURT APPEALS. Any action to appeal a workers’ compensation court order can only be commenced by filing with the Clerk of the Oklahoma Supreme Court a certified copy of the order, decision or award of the Court sitting en banc or the judge attached to a petition by the appealing party wherein said party must make the assignments or specifications as to wherein the order, decision or award is erroneous or illegal. The Supreme Court shall require the appealing party to file within forty-five (45) days from the date of the filing of an appeal or an order appealed from, a transcript of the record of the proceedings before the Court, or upon application and for good cause shown, the Supreme Court may extend the time for filing the transcript of the record for a period of time not to exceed ninety (90) days from the date. Specific filing requirements are as follows:

Any proceeding brought before the Supreme Court to review an order of a judge of the workers’ compensation court or the workers’ compensation court en banc can only be commenced by the appealing party filing his or her petition for review with the Supreme Court Clerk within tweny days after a copy of the adverse decision has been sent to the parties affected and remitting to the Clerk the cost deposit required by statute.
On compliance with the above requirements, the Supreme Court review proceeding will stand perfected and all parties to the proceeding in the tribunal as well as the Workers’ Compensation Court shall be considered as parties to the appeal. Any defect in taking a proceeding, other than failure timely to file a petition for review or pay costs, must be disregarded unless a substantial right of the complaining party is affected, and no such defect, if correctable, shall result in dismissal of the appeal.
All parties joining in the petition for review shall be designated as “petitioner”; the Workers’ Compensation Court and all other parties affected by the decision sought to be reviewed shall be joined in the appeal and designated as “respondent”.
Within twenty days after the filing of the appealing party’s petition for review in the Supreme Court, the respondent (other than the court) shall file a response in the Supreme Court.

REQUIREMENTS FOR COMPLETING AND FILING RECORD ON APPEAL BEFORE THE SUPREME COURT. Any party appealing a workers’ compensation case to the Oklahoma Supreme Court must order any transcripts and file the designation of instruments and proceedings for inclusion in the record no later than the date of filing the petition for review. If a transcript is sought to be included in the record on review, it shall be the responsibility of the trial judge or the presiding judge to expedite the preparation thereof by such orders, prospective or retrospective in effect, as will assure the earliest possible completion of the record. After a designation of record has been filed, the court clerk shall promptly assemble all of the designated instruments on file. The court clerk shall file and mail to all parties a Notice of Completion of Record within forty-five (45) days from the date the petition for review is filed in the Supreme Court.

STATUTORY FEE FOR ASSEMBLING APPELLATE RECORD. A fee of One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) per appeal to the Oklahoma Supreme Court will be collected by the Administrator and taxed as costs for preparing, assembling, indexing and transmitting the record for appellate review. This fee must be paid by the party &/or attorney or lawyer taking the appeal.

NOTE: Except for Petitions for Review an Order of the Workers’ Compensation Court mailed in conformance with statute and as described following, all briefs, motions, petitions, and other papers will be deemed filed on the date of receipt by the Clerk of the Supreme Court during regular office hours, Monday through Friday between 8:00 A.M and 5:00 P.M., state holidays excluded, at the state capitol. A Petition for Review, on the other hand, may be filed either by delivery to the Clerk of the Supreme Court, or by deposit with the United States Postal Service, and addressed to the Clerk of the Supreme Court, Room B-2, State Capitol Bldg., 2300 N. Lincoln, Oklahoma City, OK 73105, or Clerk of the Supreme Court, P.O. Box 53126, Oklahoma City, OK 73152. When a petition is delivered to the Clerk by the U.S. Postal Service, the date of mailing as shown by the postmark or other proof from the post office, such as the date stamped by the post office upon a certified mail receipt, will be deemed to be the date of filing the petition–a postmark date from a privately owned postage meter or commercial postage meter label will not suffice as proof of the date of mailing and, in the absence of other proof of date of mailing from the U.S. Postal Service, a document bearing only such a postmark will be deemed filed upon date of delivery to the Clerk.

BRIEF FILINGS IN WORKERS’ COMPENSATION CASES FILED BEFORE THE OKLAHOMA SUPREME COURT. The appealing party must file a Brief-in-chief with the Supreme Court within twenty (20) days from the date of filing the Notice of Completion of Record; the non-appealing party files his or her Answer Brief within fifteen (15) days after the filing of the Brief-in-chief by the petitioner; the petitioner may file a Reply Brief within ten (10) days after the filing of the Answer Brief by respondent. The parties shall file a copy of each brief or waiver of brief with the clerk of the Workers’ Compensation Court within five days of filing in the Supreme Court.

ORAL ARGUMENT OF WORKERS’ COMPENSATION CASES BEFORE THE SUPREME COURT: Oral argument before the Court of Civil Appeals or the Supreme Court is not a matter of right. Any injured worker, his or her employer &/or insurance company and any attorney or lawyer representing the same, desiring to present oral argument must file a motion for oral argument, setting forth the exceptional reason that oral argument is necessary and the issues sought to be presented. The motion shall not exceed two (2) pages, and shall be filed by separate motion under the style and number of the cause in the Supreme Court. If no motion is filed, the cause will stand for submission on the briefs. In the event oral argument is allowed, the court will allot such time as it may deem sufficient for oral argument.

SETTLEMENT OF OKLAHOMA WORKERS’ COMPENSATION CASE WHILE ON APPEAL TO SUPREME COURT: An agreed settlement can be approved by the Oklahoma City or Tulsa Workers’ Compensation Court while a petition for review is pending before the Oklahoma Supreme Court. The Workers’ Compensation Court is responsible for the filing, forthwith, of a copy of the approved settlement order with the Supreme Court. That filing shall constitute a dismissal of the pending review without further order of the Oklahoma Supreme Court.

Attorney Case Review

On The Job Injuries

Oklahoma Workers Comp Appeals

APPEAL TO OKLAHOMA WORKERS’ COMPENSATION COURT EN BANC

WORKERS’ COMP APPEAL TO THE OKLAHOMA SUPREME COURT