Trw/reda Pump, Own Risk, Petitioner v. Thomas Brewington and the Workers’ Compensation Court, Respondents; Trw/reda…

Summary

The court held that the appellate attorney-fee statute applies broadly to appeals from Workers’ Compensation Court orders, including workers’ compensation appeals, and expressly rejected the contrary interpretation. It adopted an objective, whole-appeal standard under which fees are available only when an appeal has no reasonable or legitimate legal or factual basis. Applying that standard, it found three appeals patently frivolous and three nonfrivolous because they presented a reasonably debatable causation issue while the law was unsettled.