Wise Mechanical Contractors v. Bignell

OPINION

Before RABINOWITZ, C. J., CONNOR, BURKE and MATTHEWS, JJ., and DIMOND, Senior Justice. CONNOR, Justice.

These two petitions raise an identical question, namely, whether the Appellate Rules or the Alaska statutes control the issuance of a stay in an appeal from a decision of the Workers’ Compensation Board [WCB] to the superior court.

In No. 5387, the WCB awarded temporary total disability benefits to an injured worker, Edwin Bignell, pending his completion of vocational rehabilitation. The employer’s insurance carrier filed an appeal in the superior court, third judicial district. Judge…