Ex Parte St. Regis Corp.

We granted the petition for writ of certiorari in this workmen's compensation case to review an issue of first impression in this Court: whether the trial court, when exercising its discretion to order payment of a lump sum attorney fee, must first reduce the periodic monthly payments to the injured workman to present value. We hold that the Court of Civil Appeals erred in affirming the trial court's judgment awarding a lump sum attorney's fee in a total permanent disability case without reducing the award to its present value.

The employee, Royce A. Parnell, was injured on November 16, 1984.…