Nebraska: Truck Driver Awarded Permanent Total Disability Benefits After Ankle Fracture

In a decision not designated for publication, a Nebraska court affirmed a finding by the state's Workers' Compensation Court that a truck driver had sustained permanent total disability due to an ankle fracture. The court noted the deep conflict in the evidence. For example, the employer was able to show that after a recuperative period, the truck driver was capable of driving an automobile from Tennessee to California and later, to take a cruise from California to Hawaii. Other evidence showed, however, that part of the driver's duties required him to make safety inspections of his truck and trailer -- tasks that required considerable bending, stooping and climbing. Those activities were contra-indicated for the driver, according to his treating physician. A vocational counselor also testified that the driver had experienced a total loss of earning power. The appellate court held, therefore, that substantial evidence supported the Compensation Court's findings.

Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., the Feature National Columnist for the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter, is co-author of Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law (LexisNexis).

LexisNexis Online Subscribers: Citations below link to Lexis Advance.

See Oaten v. Crete Carrier Corp., 2020 Neb. App. LEXIS 98 (Apr. 7, 2020)

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 130.05.

Source: Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, the nation’s leading authority on workers’ compensation law

For a more detailed discussion of the case, see

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