Argued
October 9, 2018
Page 160
Petition for Review of a Decision and Order of the
Compensation Review Board of the District of Columbia
Department of Employment Services (CRB-107-15)
Bryant
Moore, pro se.
Karl A.
Racine, Attorney General for the District of Columbia, Loren
L. AliKhan, Acting Solicitor General at the time the
statement was filed, and Stacy L. Anderson, Senior Assistant
Attorney General, filed a statement in lieu of brief for
respondent.
Gerard
J. Emig, with whom Nathan J. Postillion was on the brief, for
intervenor.
Before
Fisher and Easterly, Associate Judges, and Ruiz, Senior
Judge.
OPINION
Fisher,
Associate Judge:
Bryant
Moore injured his back in a 2008 car crash while working for
Marshall Heights Community Development Organization, Inc.
("Marshall Heights"). An administrative law judge
("ALJ") dismissed Moores claim for workers
compensation benefits, and the Compensation Review Board
("CRB") agreed. In an unpublished memorandum
opinion and judgment, this court affirmed the CRBs rulings
on the two issues that the board had analyzed under D.C. Code
§ 32-1535 (2012 Repl.) (entitled "Compensation for
injuries where third persons are liable"). See
Moore v. District of Columbia Dept of Empt Servs.,
No. 15-AA-1293, Mem. Op. & J. at 2-3 (D.C. May 11,
2017).[1] However, we remanded to allow the CRB
to address a third argument discussed by the ALJ and
preserved for review: whether, by receiving an unapproved
settlement from a third-party tortfeasor, "Moore had
lost his right to payment for medical services in addition to
any right to disability payments." Id. at 3-4.
The CRB answered that he had, and we affirm.
I. Background
In
March 2010 the Office of Workers Compensation authorized
Moore to visit a neurosurgeon and receive medical
reimbursements related to the injuries he sustained in the
car accident. Marshall Heights made periodic payments to
Moore for lost wages and medical benefits that totaled
$15,325.73. (The organization had terminated Moore in March
2009 because it no longer had grant funding for his
position.) Moore also sued the parties allegedly responsible
for the accident and procured a $15,000 settlement,
unbeknownst to Marshall Heights. In June 2012 Moore sought
further payments through the Office of Workers Compensation.
After Marshall Heights discovered that Moore had settled with
third parties, it moved to dismiss the claim.
Although
Moore acknowledges that Marshall Heights did not approve his
third-party compromise, he contends that
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the word "compensation" does not encompass medical
benefits. The CRB — a panel within the Department of
Employment Services — disagreed in a decision issued on
June 16, 2017. Adopting statutory interpretation conducted by
the ALJ, and focusing especially on the provisions of §
32-1535(e), the board concluded that the result advocated by
Moore "is illogical and the statute simply cannot be
read this way." Therefore, it said, Moores unauthorized
settlement ...