Lauterwasser v. Treasurer of Missouri as Custodian of the Second Injury Fund
Oct 27, 2025OUTCOME: Permanent Total Disability Award Secured – Lifetime Benefits Granted (ALJ Reversed)
Reversal Secured – Lifetime Permanent Total Disability Award Against Second Injury Fund (2025) In October 2025, the Missouri Labor and Industrial Relations Commission reversed an Administrative Law Ju ... dge’s denial of benefits and entered a Final Award Allowing Compensation in favor of my client, a 35-year UPS driver with significant preexisting disabilities. The case involved complex issues of medical causation and Second Injury Fund liability under § 287.220 RSMo. The Administrative Law Judge had denied permanent total disability benefits, concluding that the employee’s knee replacement and ultimate inability to work were not causally related to the 2010 work injury and that the Second Injury Fund had no liability. On appeal, the Commission reversed that decision in full. The Commission found: • The employee sustained a compensable left knee injury on February 15, 2010. • The primary injury combined with significant preexisting disabilities (left knee, right ankle, and lumbar spine conditions) to render the employee permanently and totally disabled. • The Second Injury Fund was liable for lifetime Permanent Total Disability benefits. The Final Award ordered the Fund to pay the differential between permanent partial and permanent total disability benefits for 28 weeks, and thereafter lifetime PTD benefits at $807.48 per week. This case required extensive medical evidence, vocational expert testimony, and a precise understanding of Missouri’s Second Injury Fund statute. The successful reversal demonstrates the importance of strategic litigation, detailed medical analysis, and careful development of combined disability evidence. (LIRC Final Award Allowing Compensation, Injury No. 10-009948, Oct. 27, 2025.)
