Benchmark/elite, Inc., and Colorado Insurance Guaranty Association, Petitioners v. Richard Simpson, Respondent And…

Summary

The court held that the prior interpretation allowing “time of injury” to mean either the accident date or the disablement date was unnecessary to the earlier decision and overruled it. The court therefore rejected the court of appeals’ remands for determination of each claimant’s time of disablement, while preserving the prior ruling that an ALJ may use later compensation under the discretionary average-weekly-wage provision if the ALJ does not abuse that discretion. Justice COATS, specially concurring and joined by Justice EID, agreed with overruling the unnecessary interpretation but maintained that the remaining discretionary-exception rationale was weak and should be reconsidered.