Tri-Met, Inc. v. Odighizuwa

Employer seeks review of an order of the Workers’ Compensation Board awarding claimant a penalty and attorney fees for an unreasonable denial. ORS 656.262(10); ORS 656.382(1). It argues that the Board erred as a matter of law. We reverse.

Claimant, a bus driver, sustained injuries in a collision between the bus that he was driving and a car driven by another employee of employer that was chasing the bus. There are conflicting eyewitness accounts of the events preceding the collision. Employer argued that, before the collision occurred, claimant had been relieved of his duties as a result of a…