## Facts

- On January 3, 1978, Jeffrey Brackett suffered a back injury while working for A.C. Lawrence Leather Co.
- Brackett received total-disability benefits for four days immediately after the injury and again from September 8, 1978, to January 15, 1979.
- After January 1979, Brackett returned to full-time work and continued working for several years.
- In 1985, Brackett suffered two additional back injuries in separate accidents that were not work-related.
- Following the 1985 accidents, Brackett underwent back surgery and became totally incapacitated.
- Brackett filed a petition with the Workers’ Compensation Commission seeking restoration of 100% incapacity benefits based on the 1978 work injury.
- A hearing commissioner granted the petition and restored 100% benefits, finding that the 1978 work injury was causally connected to Brackett’s present total incapacity, while also finding that the 1985 nonwork injuries were probably the major contributing factors.
- The Appellate Division affirmed the hearing commissioner’s decision.
- A.C. Lawrence Leather Co. and its insurer, Liberty Mutual Insurance Co., appealed to the Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, arguing that Brackett’s total incapacity should be apportioned between the 1978 work injury and the 1985 nonwork injuries.

## Issues

1. Whether an employer remains liable for an employee’s entire present total incapacity when a prior compensable work injury continues to causally contribute to the incapacity, even though later non-work-related injuries are probably the major contributing factors.
2. Whether Maine workers’ compensation law requires apportionment of total incapacity between a work-related injury and subsequent non-work-related injuries that also contribute to the incapacity.

## Decision

- The Supreme Judicial Court of Maine affirmed the Appellate Division’s decision upholding the hearing commissioner’s restoration of 100% incapacity benefits.
- The court held that apportionment was not required where the commissioner found that the 1978 work injury continued to causally contribute to Brackett’s present total incapacity.
- The court rejected the employer’s argument that the commissioner’s finding that the 1985 nonwork injuries were probably the major contributing factors required a reduction in the employer’s liability.
- The court treated the commissioner’s causation finding as a factual determination supported by evidence and therefore not subject to being reweighed on appeal.

## Legal Principles

- After a compensable work injury is established, the causation question is whether the employee’s current incapacity remains causally related to that work injury.
- A work injury need not be the major cause of the present incapacity; it is enough that the work injury remains a causal contributor to the incapacity.
- When a compensable work injury and later non-work-related injuries combine to produce incapacity, Maine law does not require apportionment between work and nonwork causes absent a specific statutory basis.
- Maine precedent (including Richardson v. Robbins Lumber, Inc.) is applied as a framework for analyzing causation; it does not create a general rule requiring apportionment simply because later events contribute heavily to the disability.
- Appellate review in workers’ compensation cases accepts the commissioner’s supported factual findings on causation and does not substitute a different weighing of medical causes.

## Conclusion

Because the hearing commissioner found that Brackett’s 1978 work-related back injury continued to causally contribute to his present total incapacity, the Supreme Judicial Court of Maine held that A.C. Lawrence Leather Co. and its insurer remained liable for full (100%) incapacity benefits, and Maine law did not require apportionment despite the significant contribution of Brackett’s later non-work-related injuries.


Brackett v. A.C. Lawrence Leather Co., 559 A.2d 776 (1989)