Cooper Industrial Products, Inc. v. Worth

As I view this case, the crucial question is whether a 40% loss in the use of a leg because of a knee injury can render a claimant entitled to compensation benefits for permanent total disability under the statutory law as it now stands.

The claimant in this case sustained an injury to her knee resulting in a 40% disability, or loss in the use of her right lower extremity. The claimant wears a prescribed brace on the right leg. It is necessary to keep the brace in a locked position when walking, and it is necessary to disengage a latch on the brace in order to bend her knee. Because the…