Bignell v. Wise Mechanical Contractors

I would affirm the superior court’s reversal of the Board’s award of workers’ compensation in this case. In my view, the superior court’s ruling that temporary total disability benefits cease once the employee’s condition becomes medically stable is more consonant with Alaska’s workers’ compensation statutes than is the majority’s construction.

The majority’s major legal premise is that temporary total benefits are available after the medical condition of the injured employee has stablized. Case law from other jurisdictions overwhelmingly reflects the view that medical stabilization, or…