## Facts

- Peter Van Dorpel, age 65, worked for Haven-Busch Company painting steel beams and angle irons.
- While a beam was being turned using an overhead electric chain hoist, the chain broke and the beam fell, crushing Van Dorpel’s right leg and injuring his right hand.
- Van Dorpel’s right leg was later amputated above the knee, and four fingers of his right hand were lost at the palm; his thumb was not involved.
- He was paid workers’ compensation for the scheduled losses of a leg and four fingers, and payments ended when the scheduled period expired.
- Van Dorpel then sought additional benefits, supported by evidence that he had lost industrial use of his hand and had serious functional limits affecting walking and basic self-care.
- The extent of Van Dorpel’s total and permanent inability to perform industrial work was not disputed.

## Issues

1. Whether an employee fully compensated for scheduled losses may also receive additional compensation for total and permanent disability caused by the combined effect of those scheduled injuries.
2. Whether the scheduled-loss provisions are exclusive when the scheduled injuries produce total industrial disability beyond the anatomical losses.
3. Whether any additional total-disability award must be limited by the statute’s maximum duration.

## Decision

- The Michigan Supreme Court affirmed the award of additional compensation for total disability.
- The Court held that scheduled-loss compensation did not preclude an additional award where the combined effect of the scheduled injuries resulted in total and permanent disability beyond the specific losses.
- The Court left in place the Appeal Board’s modification limiting compensation so it would not exceed 750 weeks from the date of injury.

## Legal Principles

- Scheduled-loss benefits are not automatically exclusive when multiple scheduled injuries together produce total and permanent industrial disability beyond the separate anatomical losses.
- Workers’ compensation disability focuses on industrial and functional incapacity, including loss of “industrial use,” not solely the fact of amputation or dismemberment.
- Additional total-disability compensation may be awarded on top of scheduled-loss benefits when supported by findings of disability beyond the scheduled losses, subject to the statute’s overall duration limits.

## Conclusion

The court allowed additional total-disability benefits after scheduled-loss payments ended because the combined scheduled injuries produced total and permanent industrial disability beyond the specific member losses, while enforcing the statutory cap limiting the duration of compensation to 750 weeks from the injury date.


Van Dorpel v. Haven-Busch Co., 350 Mich. 135, 85 N.W.2d 97 (Mich. 1957)