The Court set aside an Appeal Panel's decision in a workers compensation permanent impairment dispute on two grounds: first, the panel failed to apply the SIRA Guidelines by automatically selecting the maximum sensory deficit value (60%) without exercising clinical judgment as required; second, the panel exceeded its jurisdiction by assessing impairment to joints (left hip, knee, and great toe) that were not part of the referred medical dispute. The Court confirmed that where an appeal panel adopts the report of a re-examining member, it must still independently explain the path of reasoning leading to its conclusions, and bare adoption of a member's report without such explanation constitutes a failure to give adequate reasons amounting to jurisdictional error.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 1 later case that cites this judgment.