STATE OF WISCONSIN
LABOR AND INDUSTRY REVIEW COMMISSION
P O BOX 8126, MADISON, WI 53708-8126 (608/266-9850)

ROMAN GABRIELSON, Applicant

J H FINDORFF & SON INC, Employer

GENERAL CASUALTY CO OF WI, Insurer

WORKER'S COMPENSATION DECISION
Claim No. 1997025346

On September 16, 1999, Administrative Law Judge Roy L. Sass of the Worker's Compensation Division of the Department of Workforce Development ordered the employer and its insurer to pay compensation to the applicant. On September 30, 1999, the applicant's attorney, Helen L. Schott, wrote a letter to ALJ Sass contending that the benefits awarded in ALJ Sass' order were not correctly calculated. Specifically, Ms. Schott's letter contends that while the total and net amounts of the award were correctly calculated, the fee was not, with the result that a portion of her fee was ordered paid to the applicant instead of directly to her. Ms. Schott's letter to ALJ Sass was forwarded to the commission as a petition for commission review. (1)

The commission's authority on review is limited to decisions which award or deny compensation. Wis. Stat. § 102.18(3). The commission traditionally treats petitions which raise only an issue as to the amount of the attorney fee as not arising from an order decision that awards or denies compensation. Kugel v. Fort Howard Paper Corporation, WC Claim no. 93036388 (Pflasterer letter rejecting petition, August 15, 1997); Donohoe v. Green Bay Packers, WC Claim no. 87- 041220 (LIRC, December 11, 1989); Eisenberg v. IHLR Department, 59 Wis. 2d 98 (1973); Cranston v. Industrial Commission, 246 Wis. 287 (1944). See also Neal & Danas, Workers Compensation Handbook § 1.5 (4th ed. 1997). Because Ms. Schott's letter to ALJ Sass serving as the petition for commission review raises only fee issues over which the commission has no jurisdiction under Wis. Stat. § 102.18(3), the petition must be dismissed.

ORDER

The petition for commission review is dismissed.

Dated and mailed January 28, 2000
gabrielson : 101 : 5  ND § 1.5 , § 9.1, § 9.2

/s/ David B. Falstad, Chairman

/s/ Pamela I. Anderson, Commissioner

/s/ James A. Rutkowski, Commissioner

MEMORANDUM OPINION

As explained in the text of the decision, the commission has no jurisdiction to review the fee issue raised in Ms. Schott's letter. However, a valid fee agreement between an injured worker and the attorney representing him or her in a workers compensation case is an enforceable contract permitting the attorney to seek the fee directly from the worker.

cc: ATTORNEY HELEN L SCHOTT
STAFFORD & NEAL SC

ATTORNEY ANDREW J QUARTARO
PETERSON JOHNSON & MURRAY SC

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Footnotes:

(1)( Back ) The commission appreciates that Ms. Schott's letter to ALJ Sass may not have been intended as a petition for review. However, because the letter has been processed as a petition, the commission disposes of it in that manner.