Do you think some vicious employers won't stoop to the lowest of lows to beat an injured worker out of his benefits? Here's an unusual story from the state of Oklahoma where the little guy wins for a change!

OKLAHOMA CITY - The three-year statute of limitations for workers' compensation injuries was designed to ensure fairness to the defendants, not to create an avenue whereby misfortune and delays may allow an employer to be excused from paying for an otherwise compensable injury, the Oklahoma Supreme Court has ruled.

The state Supreme Court ruled unanimously to reverse an order of the Court of Civil Appeals, which had adhered to the three-year statute of limitations when denying benefits to worker William Leroy Minyard.

The Supreme Court made note of the unusual circumstances involved in Minyard's case - which included the untimely death of the physician assigned to examine Minyard - when finding that an order of the Workers' Compensation Court still pending when the statute of limitations ran out had tolled the statute.

"'Tolling' is a term of art which refers to the temporary suspension of the statutory time bar for bringing a suit because of" certain extenuating circumstances in cases where the employer's actions acknowledge liability for the injury, the court ruled.

Minyard had sustained a work-related injury to his neck and shoulder in June 2000. The employer, Key Energy Services Inc., did not dispute that the claim was compensable, and paid for Minyard's surgery and six weeks of total disability. After returning to work in January 2001, Minyard testified he continued to have problems with his neck and shoulder.

In July 2002, Minyard filed a Form 3 workers' compensation claim seeking additional treatment for the injury. The court record shows Minyard spoke with an attorney employed by the Workers' Compensation Court who advised Minyard to file a Form 13, requesting a prehearing conference, but failed to inform Minyard of the statute of limitations or of the requirement to file a Form 9.

Minyard had requested the appointment of an independent medical examiner in October 2004, but the physician selected to conduct the examination died before he could examine Minyard, sending Minyard "back to square one," the court found. A second request for an independent medical examiner, filed in December 2004, was not answered by the court until June 2005 - about a month before the statute of limitations was due to run out on Minyard's injury. The court scheduled Minyard's examination to be conducted in August 2005, a month after the statute had run out.

When Minyard finally received the requested examination, the physician diagnosed Minyard with "a serious spinal injury that placed him at great risk," but the employer cited the statute of limitations in asking the court deny the claim.

"The claimant found himself in difficult straits," the Supreme Court found. The law required Minyard to request a trial within the allotted time by filing a Form 9 with a medical report attached. But Minyard could not get a medical report without an examination, and he could not get an examination until after the statute had expired. Minyard was thwarted in his efforts to comply with the law "by judicial delay and judicial fiat," ruled the Supreme Court.

"This is not a frivolous claim brought by a party who slept on his rights, and this action was no surprise to the employer," the Supreme Court found. That Minyard's injury was work-related and thereby compensable was never disputed by the employer, the court found.

"Statutes of limitations... promote justice by preventing surprises through the revival of claims that have been allowed to slumber until evidence has been lost, memories have faded, and witnesses have disappeared," found the U.S. Supreme Court, as quoted by the Oklahoma Supreme Court in its ruling. "This policy of repose, designed to protect defendants, is frequently outweighed, however, where the interests of justice require vindication of the plaintiff's rights."

Because the Workers' Compensation Court's uncontested order that Minyard submit to a medical examination was still pending when the statute of limitations expired, the court ruled that the uncontested order tolled the statute.