FILED
Jul 24 2023, 9:19 am
CLERK
Indiana Supreme Court
Court of Appeals
and Tax Court
ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLANT ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE
Daniel A. Korban Jenny R. Buchheit
George C. Patrick Ann H. Stewart
George C. Patrick & Associates, P.C. Ice Miller LLP
Crown Point, Indiana Indianapolis, Indiana
IN THE
COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA
Angela Santos, July 24, 2023
Appellant-Plaintiff, Court of Appeals Case No.
22A-EX-2611
v. Appeal from the
Worker’s Compensation Board of
Franciscan Health, Indiana
Appellee-Defendant. The Honorable
Linda P. Hamilton, Chair
Application No.
C-254788
Opinion by Judge Foley
Judges Vaidik and Tavitas concur.
Foley, Judge.
[1] Angela Santos (“Santos”) appeals from the dismissal of her Application for
Adjustment of Claim (“Application”) by the Full Board of the Worker’s
Compensation Board of Indiana (“the Board”), which affirmed the
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determination of the Single Hearing Member that concluded that her
Application was untimely filed. Santos asserts that her Application was timely
filed because, although Indiana Code section 22-3-3-3 is a non-claim statute,
Indiana Trial Rules 5 and 6 apply to allow an application to be timely filed
when the two-year time period after a work injury falls on a Sunday, and the
applicant mails the application on the next business day via certified mail.
Finding that the Board erred when it dismissed Santos’s claim, we reverse and
remand for further proceedings.
Facts and Procedural History
[2] On December 5, 2019, Santos suffered an injury to her lower back during the
course of and arising out of her employment with Franciscan Health. Santos’s
injury was accepted as compensable by Franciscan Health, and she was
provided worker’s compensation benefits pursuant to Title 22, Article 3 of the
Indiana Code.
[3] Santos sought an adjustment of her claim. The deadline for Santos to file her
Application was December 5, 2021, which fell on a Sunday. On Monday,
December 6, 2021, Santos filed her Application with the Board via certified
mail with return receipt requested. The Board received her Application on
December 10, 2021. On April 6, 2022, Franciscan Health filed its motion to
dismiss Santos’s Application, arguing that it was not timely filed, and the Board
therefore lacked jurisdiction to adjudicate the claim. The Board, by its Single
Hearing Member, granted the motion without a hearing, finding that Indiana
Code section 22-3-3-3 is a “non-claim statute with requirements that cannot be
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set aside or excused” and that, under the statute, a claim is “extinguished if not
exercised within the proscribed time limit.” Appellant’s App. Vol. 2 pp. 29–30.
Because Santos’s Application was not filed on or prior to December 5, 2021, it
was found to be untimely, and her claim was dismissed. On June 2, 2022,
Santos appealed the Single Hearing Member’s Order to the Full Board, by filing
her Application for Review by Full Board. Both parties filed briefs, and the Full
Board held a hearing. On October 3, 2022, the Full Board issued an order
affirming the Single Hearing Member’s order. Santos now appeals.
Discussion and Decision
[4] Santos argues that the Board erred in granting Franciscan Health’s motion to
dismiss her Application on the ground that it was not timely filed. “In
reviewing a worker’s compensation decision, an appellate court is bound by the
factual determinations of the Board and may not disturb them unless the
evidence is undisputed and leads inescapably to a contrary conclusion.”
Christopher R. Brown, D.D.S., Inc. v. Decatur Cnty. Mem'l Hosp., 892 N.E.2d 642,
646 (Ind. 2008). We examine the record only to determine whether there is
substantial evidence and reasonable inferences that can be drawn therefrom to
support the Board’s findings and conclusion. Id. “‘As to the Board’s
interpretation of the law, we employ a deferential standard of review of the
interpretation of a statute by an administrative agency charged with its
enforcement in light of its expertise in the given area.’” Gilley’s Antique Mall v.
Sarver, 157 N.E.3d 549, 552 (Ind. Ct. App. 2020) (quoting Brown, 892 N.E.2d at
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646), trans. denied. The Board will only be reversed if it incorrectly interpreted
the Worker’s Compensation Act. Id.
[5] Indiana Code section 22-3-3-3 provides that a worker’s compensation claim
must be filed within two years of an accident:
The right to compensation under IC 22-3-2 through IC 22-3-6
shall be forever barred unless within two (2) years after the
occurrence of the accident, or if death results therefrom, within
two (2) years after such death, a claim for compensation
thereunder shall be filed with the worker’s compensation board.
Ind. Code § 22-3-3-3(a). Section 22-3-3-3 is a non-claim statute that “creates a
right of action and has inherent in it the denial of a right of action.” Gilley’s
Antique Mall, 157 N.E.3d at 553 (citations omitted). A non-claim statute should
not be seen “merely as a statute of limitations.” Ind. State Police v. Wiessing, 836
N.E.2d 1038, 1048 (Ind. Ct. App. 2005) (citing Ry. Exp. Agency v. Harrington, 88
N.E.2d 175, 176 (Ind. Ct. App. 1949)), trans. denied. While statutes of
limitation create defenses that must be pled and waived, a non-claim statute
creates an enforceable right of action unknown under the common law.
Blackford v. Welborn Clinic, 172 N.E.3d 1219, 1225 (Ind. 2021). It creates “a
condition attached to the right to recover” or “a condition precedent to the right
to maintain the action.” Wiessing, 836 N.E.2d at 1048. A non-claim statute is
self-executing–unlike the general statute of limitations—and unless a party files
a claim within the prescribed time, no enforceable right of action is created.
Blackford, 172 N.E.3d at 1225. “Non-claim statutes generally are not subject to
equitable exceptions.” Id. (internal quotation marks omitted).
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[6] Here, the Board found that Santos’s Application was not timely filed because
the time period under Indiana Code section 22-3-3-3 expired on December 5,
2021, and the Application was not filed until December 6, 2021. The Board
further found that the statute is a non-claim statute with “requirements that
cannot be set aside or excused,” there is no ambiguity in the statute, and “the
claim is extinguished if not exercised within the proscribed time limit.”
Appellant’s App. Vol. 2 pp. 29–30. This determination by the Single Hearing
Member was affirmed by the Full Worker’s Compensation Board. There is no
dispute that December 5, 2021, was the two-year anniversary of the occurrence
of Santos’s injury. The evidence showed that Santos mailed her Application via
certified mail on December 6, 2021, and the Application was received by the
Board on December 10, 2021; both of these dates are beyond the two-year
deadline for filing the Application under the Worker’s Compensation Act.
[7] Santos argues that because the Worker’s Compensation Act (“the Act”) is silent
as to the manner in which an application must be filed, Trial Rules 5(F) and
6(A) apply to the two-year filing deadline under Indiana Code section 22-3-3-3,
and as a result, her Application was filed timely. According to Santos, because
the last day of the two-year period falls on a weekend or a holiday, the last day
of her two-year period should be extended to the next business day after the
weekend, which was December 6, 2021. Because she filed her Application by
certified mail, return receipt requested, the Application is deemed filed as of the
date of the mailing, which was December 6, 2021.
[8] Trial Rule 5 provides, in pertinent part:
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The filing of pleadings, motions, and other papers with the court
as required by these rules shall be made by one of the following
methods:
....
(3) Mailing to the clerk by registered, certified or express mail
return receipt requested;
....
Filing by registered or certified mail and by third-party
commercial carrier shall be complete upon mailing or deposit.
Ind. Trial Rule 5(F). Trial Rule 6 states in pertinent part:
In computing any period of time prescribed or allowed by these
rules, by order of the court, or by any applicable statute, the day
of the act, event, or default from which the designated period of
time begins to run shall not be included. The last day of the
period so computed is to be included unless it is:
(1) a Saturday,
(2) a Sunday,
(3) a legal holiday as defined by state statute, or
(4) a day the office in which the act is to be done is closed during
regular business hours.
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In any event, the period runs until the end of the next day that is
not a Saturday, a Sunday, a legal holiday, or a day on which the
office is closed.
T.R. 6(A).
[9] It is generally true that the Indiana Trial Rules do not govern or bind the Board.
LaGarda Sec. v. Lawalin, 812 N.E.2d 830, 834 n.2 (Ind. Ct. App. 2004); Josam
Mfg. Co. v. Ross, 428 N.E.2d 74, 75 (Ind. Ct. App. 1981); Davis v. Webster, 198
N.E.2d 883, 885 (Ind. Ct. App. 1964). “Each of the several administrative
agencies is a creature of the Legislature,” and “[t]he procedures to be followed
in presenting matters to these agencies and in appeals therefrom are specifically
set out in the statutes pertaining to each.” Clary v. Nat’l Friction Prods., Inc., 290
N.E.2d 53, 55 (Ind. 1972). The Trial Rules, which, as stated in Trial Rule 1,
govern the procedure and practice in all courts of the state of Indiana are
presumptively not applicable to proceedings before the administrative agencies
nor to the proceedings requisite to invoking the jurisdiction of reviewing judicial
authority. Id.
[10] The Act itself, however, provides that the Board “may adopt rules . . . to carry
into effect the worker’s compensation law.” I.C. § 22-3-1-3. As set forth in
Title 631 of the Indiana Administrative Code, the Board affirmed that “[e]xcept
as provided,” it “will not be bound by any technical rules of practice in
conducting hearings . . . .” 631 Ind. Admin. Code 1-1-3 (emphasis added). This
language shows an intent by the Board to not be bound by Trial Rules in its
procedure of conducting hearings but not in the filing procedure or the
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computation of time for filing. Later in the same section, the Board expressly
adopted certain Trial Rules, when it stated, “the board incorporates by
reference the provisions of Trial Rules 26 through 37, 1 as amended, of the
Indiana Rules of Trial Procedure, into this rule.” Id. Under section 5 of the
same rule, the Board specifically incorporated Trial Rule 5 as follows, “The
board incorporates the provisions of Trial Rule 5, as amended, Indiana Rules of
Trial Procedure, by reference into this rule for the purposes of the calculation of
time limitations with regard to service and filing of documents with the board.”
631 I.A.C. 1-1-5.
[11] Franciscan Health argues that the Board only adopted Trial Rule 5 for filings
made after the original application. We disagree. First, a plain reading of the
rule provides no such limitation or distinction between an original application
and subsequent filings, both of which constitute documents. Next, the Board’s
actions in the present case belie Franciscan Health’s argument. Santos’s
Application was mailed via certified mail on December 6, 2021, and received
by the Board on December 10, 2021. However, the Board marked the
Application as filed on December 6, and the Single Hearing Member found the
same in her order. Appellant’s App. Vol. 2 p. 29. Therefore, the Board used
Trial Rule 5 to find that the Application was filed on December 6, 2021.
1
Trial Rules 26 through 37 involve discovery procedures, the taking of depositions, and sanctions for
discovery violations.
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[12] Santos relies on several cases for her assertion that both Trial Rules 5(F) and
6(A) should be applied to the filing of her Application under Indiana Code
section 22-3-3-3(a). In Ball Stores, Inc. v. State Board of Tax Commissioners, 316
N.E.2d 674 (Ind. 1974), our Supreme Court held that, where the applicable
statute was silent as to how to compute time when the last day of a limitations
period falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or holiday, Trial Rule 6(A) can be applied
to extend the filing period to the next day the office is open for business. Id. at
678. In State Board of Tax Commissioners v. LeSea Broadcasting Corp., 511 N.E.2d
1009 (Ind. 1987), our Supreme Court further held that, where the applicable
statute was silent as to the method of filing and the definition of filing, Trial
Rule 5 applied to allow the statutorily-required notice to be timely filed when it
is deposited into the United States Mail, addressed to the State Board of Tax
Commissioners with postage prepaid, within the time specified under statute.
Id. at 1013. Our Supreme Court extended the holdings from Ball Stores and
LeSea to all administrative agencies in State ex rel. Goodman v. Review Board of
Indiana Department of Employment Training Services, et al., 536 N.E.2d 1023 (Ind.
1989), where it held that, if the applicable statutes are silent as to how a filing is
to be accomplished or how the time for filing is to be computed, the Trial Rules
should be utilized. See id. at 1025. In doing so, the Supreme Court stated,
“[t]he fairness in applying the rules of trial procedure where there is silence and,
thus, no conflict in the statutory procedure, is in keeping with the holding of
Ball Stores . . . and subsequent cases.” Id.
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[13] Further, in Inland Steel Co. v. Brown, 496 N.E.2d 1332 (Ind. Ct. App. 1986) and
Wilks v. First National Bank of Mishawaka, 326 N.E.2d 827 (Ind. Ct. App. 1975),
two cases involving the Board, this court relied on Ball Stores, and held that
where a statute is silent as to the computation of time, Trial Rule 6(A) can be
applied to extend the time period for filing when the last day of the time period
is a Saturday, Sunday, or holiday. Brown, 496 N.E.2d at 1334; Wilks, 326
N.E.2d at 830.
[14] In looking at all of these cases together, it is clear that the holdings lead us to
the conclusion that, where the applicable statute is silent as to the methods of
filing and the computation of time, both Trial Rule 5 and Trial Rule 6(A) apply.
Here, the Act is silent as to how filing is to be accomplished and as to how the
time for filing is to be computed. Therefore, Trial Rules 5 and 6(A) should be
applied to Santos’s Application. Because the last day of the two-year time
period was on a Sunday, December 5, 2021, it was required to be filed on
December 6, 2021, which Santos did by depositing the Application in the mail
via certified mail on December 6, 2021.
[15] The Act is intended to be broadly construed for the benefit of the injured
worker:
We note that the Act is a humane enactment designed and
intended for the protection of workmen who come within its
provisions, which are and ought to be liberally construed and
applied, so as to extend that protection to the ultimate good of
the greatest possible number of workers; but the extent and
limitation of its applicability also are fixed by those provisions
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and we cannot, by judicial pronouncement, enlarge these beyond
the obvious intent of the Legislature.
Gilley’s Antique Mall, 157 N.E.3d at 554 (citing Brown, 892 N.E.2d at 649).
Additionally, “doubts in the application of terms are to be resolved in favor of
the employee, for the passage of the Act was designed to shift the economic
burden of a work-related injury from the injured employee to the industry and,
ultimately to the consuming public.” Talas v. Correct Piping Co., 435 N.E.2d 22,
28 (Ind. 1982). Application of Trial Rules 5 and 6(A) to the filing of an
application before the Board is consistent with the stated intent to broadly
construe the Act for the benefit and protection of employees.
[16] We do not find our conclusion to be in conflict with the Act’s status as a non-
claim statute. Although non-claim statues cannot be extended beyond their
statutory deadlines, the application of Trial Rules 5 and 6(A) does not extend
the two-year statutory deadline. Such application of the trial rules is merely a
method to compute the time when the two-year anniversary of the employee’s
injury falls on a weekend, holiday, or other day the Board’s offices are not
open. Likewise, the application of Trial Rules 5 and 6(A) is not an equitable
exception to the time period in the statute. Indiana Code section 22-3-3-3(a)’s
status as a non-claim statute does not preclude the application of Trial Rules 5
and 6(A) to allow an application to be deemed filed when it is mailed via
certified mail on the next business day after the offices have been closed.
[17] Additionally, we acknowledge cases holding that, with the exception of the
rules incorporated by the Board, the Indiana Trial Rules do not apply to the
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Board. See Gilley’s Antique Mall, 157 N.E.2d at 553 n.6. Although this general
proposition exists, Ball Stores, LeSea, and their progeny address a specific issue
of what to do when a statute is silent as to how to define filing and how to
compute time limitations as to the filing of documents filed with an
administrative agency or board. We do not view these cases to be in conflict
with the general proposition that the trial rules do not apply to the Board.
[18] Where a statute prescribes special rules of procedure for administrative
proceedings or appeals therefrom, the statutory procedure will prevail when it
conflicts with the Trial Rules. LeSea, 511 N.E.2d at 1013. However, where the
statute does not conflict with the Trial Rules, but is merely silent as to a
particular procedure, the Trial Rules can supply the missing procedure. See id.
Here, the Act is silent as to how filing is to be defined and as to how the time
for filing is to be computed, and we therefore conclude that under Ball Stores,
LeSea, and their progeny, Trial Rules 5 and 6(A) apply. When we utilize the
rules in the present case, Santos’s Application, which was filed on December 6,
2021, was timely filed, and the Board erred in dismissing her Application as
untimely. We reverse the order of the Board dismissing her Application and
remand for further proceedings.
[19] Reversed and remanded.
Vaidik, J., and Tavitas, J., concur.
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