WSIA

Recently, the Board of Industrial Insurance Appeals has been rejecting proposed Claim Resolution Structured Settlement Agreements (CRSSA) that include language requiring objective findings of a worsening condition to support reopening the claim.

For example, most recently in In re Gould, Jan. 19th 2016, the Board said this (citations omitted):

Claim Resolution Structured Settlement Agreements may not be the result of a material misstatement of law. Citing to RCW 51.32.160, the proposed agreement limits the worker's ability to reopen his claim by requiring a showing of objective worsening of conditions caused by his industrial injuries. However, the courts have rejected that requirement if reopening is sought for mental health conditions. While we are not told that Mr. Gould currently suffers any mental health conditions related to these claims, to the extent that the agreement required objective worsening to reopen any of the claims, it contains a misstatement of the law and must be rejected.

Accordingly, the Board will reject a proposed CRSSA that requires objective worsening for reopening, whether or not it is related to mental health conditions.

In response to this development, the Department has proposed modifying the standard language in a CRSSA agreement to remove the reference to objective worsening and reference the requirements of RCW 51.04.063. Click here for a version of the suggested new language.

Special thanks to L&I's Debra Hatzialexiou and Keehn Kunkler's Kathryn Kunkler for bringing this to the community's attention.