## Facts

- Michael E. Stacy worked for Great Lakes Agri Marketing, Inc., doing business as Bridgeport Tractor.
- On July 21, 2004, Stacy was struck in the knee by a piece of metal while working on a tractor, injuring his right leg.
- Stacy sought Nebraska workers’ compensation benefits, including vocational-rehabilitation services.
- After the injury, Stacy developed deep vein thrombosis and required anticoagulation therapy and medication for the foreseeable future; there was also a dispute whether he had reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD).
- Stacy’s manager offered him a sedentary computer-oriented position, but Stacy had no computer training or experience and disputed that the job was suitable for him.
- The Workers’ Compensation Court appointed a vocational-rehabilitation counselor, who concluded Stacy’s work injury eliminated his earning capacity.
- By December 2005, Stacy’s physician (Dr. Bryan Scheer) opined that Stacy’s right leg was totally impaired.
- The employer’s insurer advised Stacy he had reached maximum medical improvement, assigned a 22–23% impairment of the right lower extremity, and paid permanent partial disability benefits tied to a scheduled-member injury.
- A single judge of the Nebraska Workers’ Compensation Court found Stacy had RSD related to the work injury, determined the condition produced a scheduled-member injury to the right leg that reached maximum medical improvement on January 20, 2005, and awarded temporary total disability followed by 100% permanent loss of use of the scheduled member.
- The single judge denied vocational-rehabilitation benefits, finding suitable sedentary work was available with the employer.
- A review panel of the Workers’ Compensation Court affirmed the single judge’s award and rulings.
- Stacy appealed to the Nebraska Supreme Court, arguing (among other things) that his condition should be treated as a whole-body disability supporting permanent total disability, that he was entitled to vocational rehabilitation, and that he should receive waiting-time penalties and attorney’s fees.

## Issues

1. Whether the Workers’ Compensation Court erred by classifying Stacy’s post-injury condition as a scheduled-member injury to the right leg rather than a body-as-a-whole impairment that could support permanent total disability.
2. Whether Stacy was entitled to vocational-rehabilitation benefits despite the employer’s offer of a sedentary job.
3. Whether the employer and insurer lacked a reasonable controversy such that waiting-time penalties and attorney’s fees should have been awarded.

## Decision

- The Nebraska Supreme Court affirmed the Workers’ Compensation Court review panel’s decision.
- The court held the record supported treating Stacy’s condition as a scheduled-member injury to the right leg rather than a body-as-a-whole impairment.
- Because the injury was properly compensated under the schedule, Stacy was not entitled to permanent total disability benefits based on loss of earning capacity.
- The court upheld denial of vocational-rehabilitation benefits, agreeing that competent evidence supported the finding that suitable work was available with the employer within Stacy’s restrictions.
- The court upheld denial of waiting-time penalties and attorney’s fees because there was a reasonable controversy regarding the nature and extent of Stacy’s impairment and benefits owed.

## Legal Principles

- On appeal in Nebraska workers’ compensation cases, an appellate court does not reweigh evidence; factual findings are upheld unless clearly wrong, and legal questions are reviewed independently.
- Whether an injury is compensated under the statutory schedule or as a body-as-a-whole disability turns on the location of the resulting permanent impairment, not merely the location of the initial trauma.
- A claimant seeking compensation outside the schedule must present medical evidence of a permanent impairment to the body as a whole; subjective reports of pain and limitation, standing alone, do not convert a scheduled-member impairment into a whole-body disability.
- When an injury is a scheduled-member injury, benefits are determined by the schedule rather than by diminished earning capacity, and permanent total disability based on loss of earning power is not available on that theory.
- Vocational-rehabilitation services are awarded to restore an injured worker to suitable employment; they may be denied where the trier of fact finds suitable work is available to the employee (including with the preinjury employer) within the employee’s restrictions.
- Waiting-time penalties and attorney’s fees are not awarded when there is a reasonable controversy over the employee’s entitlement to benefits or the amount owed.

## Conclusion

Stacy v. Great Lakes Agri Marketing, Inc. is a Nebraska Supreme Court workers’ compensation decision affirming an award that treated an employee’s post-injury condition as a scheduled-member injury to the right leg, denied permanent total disability and vocational rehabilitation based on findings that the impairment did not extend to the body as a whole and that suitable work was available, and rejected penalties and attorney’s fees because the dispute over the extent of disability presented a reasonable controversy.


Stacy v. Great Lakes Agri Marketing, Inc., 753 N.W.2d 785, 276 Neb. 236 (2008)