## Facts

- Robert Moilanen was injured while working for Marbles Moving & Storage in Great Falls, Montana.
- Marbles’ workers’ compensation carrier, the State Compensation Insurance Fund, accepted the claim and began paying Moilanen temporary total-disability benefits.
- Moilanen continued to suffer back and leg pain and remained unable to return to work.
- Moilanen petitioned the Montana Workers’ Compensation Court for a determination that he was permanently totally disabled.
- Medical evidence included discussion of possible back surgery that might improve his condition, but the outcome was uncertain and the procedure carried ordinary surgical risks.
- The Workers’ Compensation Court concluded Moilanen had not yet proven permanent total disability and indicated that surgery might be required before a permanent disability determination could be made.
- Moilanen also asked that future benefits be converted to a lump-sum payment.
- Montana law required a claimant seeking lump-sum conversion to submit a written request to workers’ compensation officials and provide a plan explaining how the lump sum would be used.
- Moilanen did not follow the statutory written-request process before asking the Workers’ Compensation Court to order a lump-sum award, and the court found his proposed plan too vague.
- Moilanen appealed to the Montana Supreme Court, challenging both the disability ruling and the denial of lump-sum conversion.

## Issues

1. May the Workers’ Compensation Court effectively require a claimant to undergo back surgery as a condition of proving permanent total disability?
2. Was denial of lump-sum conversion of future benefits proper when the claimant did not submit the required written request to state officials and did not present a sufficiently definite plan for use of the lump sum?

## Decision

- Reversed in part and remanded on the disability issue.
- The Supreme Court held Moilanen could not be required to undergo back surgery to establish permanent total disability; the disability determination had to be made based on his condition without conditioning benefits on surgery.
- Affirmed on the lump-sum issue.
- The Supreme Court upheld denial of lump-sum conversion because Moilanen bypassed the statutory application process and because his proposed plan for use of the funds was not specific enough to support approval.

## Legal Principles

- A workers’ compensation claimant is not required to submit to uncertain, risk-bearing surgery as a prerequisite to proving permanent total disability.
- The possibility that surgery might improve a claimant’s condition can be considered as evidence, but refusal to undergo such surgery does not by itself defeat a permanent disability claim.
- Lump-sum conversion of workers’ compensation benefits is available only when the claimant follows the governing statute’s application method, including a written request to the designated workers’ compensation officials.
- A request for lump-sum payment may be denied when the claimant skips the statutory process or submits a plan that is too indefinite to show an appropriate use of the funds.

## Conclusion

The Montana Supreme Court ruled that Moilanen’s entitlement to a permanent total disability determination could not be conditioned on his willingness to undergo back surgery with uncertain results, and it sent the disability question back for reconsideration on that basis. At the same time, the Court upheld denial of Moilanen’s request to convert future benefits to a lump sum because he did not use the statutory written-request process and failed to present a sufficiently definite spending plan.


Moilanen v. Marbles Moving & Storage, 214 Mont. 367, 694 P.2d 485 (1985)