Court Says Benefit Commission Must Reconsider Factual Issues

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A Missouri appellate panel has vacated a workers' compensation board's denial of benefits for an electrical worker after concluding that the board and an administrative law judge failed to fully investigate factual evidence of possible exposure to transformer oil. Spencer v. SAC Osage Electric Co-op Inc., No. WD70443 (Mo. Ct. App., Western Dist.).

The Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, said in its Feb. 9 opinion that experts who testified in the case offered means of possible exposure depending upon the condition of the transformer oil, but the administrative law judge failed to adequately consider the …