Richard Louie, Appellant v. Bp Exploration (alaska), Inc., and Ace USA, Appellees

Summary

The court affirmed the Commission's decision that Louie's workers' compensation benefits were capped at $700 per week under the statute in effect when he suffered his injury. It held that benefit calculation involves determining the spendable weekly wage first and then applying the statutory maximum in effect on the injury date, which barred using the later, more generous compensation formula. The court concluded that neither the statutory language nor legislative history authorized applying the amended rate retroactively or treating the date of permanent disability as the governing date.