Crabb v. Department of Labor & Industries

¶1 The Department of Labor and Industries (Department) appeals an order of summary judgment directing it to pay Joseph Crabb’s workers’ compensation benefits for 2011 at the maximum monthly amount for that year. Crabb began receiving these benefits in 2007. The statutory formula for calculating his benefits called for payments in excess of the maximum monthly amount, so the Department paid Crabb at the maximum between 2007 *652and 2010. In 2011, amendments to the workers’ compensation statutes froze the annual cost of living adjustment (COLA) to benefit payments. Based on these amendments, the…