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In June 2005, an employee was injured on the job with the defendant. Indiana Spine performed medical services on the injured worker, but was not paid for the full amount that it charged. In April 2009, Indiana Spine brought an action seeking the entire amount it billed. The defendant moved to dismiss, citing the statute of limitations. The Worker's Compensation Board granted that motion and Indiana Spine appealed.

On appeal, the Court held that neither of the statutes of limitations in the Worker's Compensation Act applied to claims for reimbursement by a medical provider. Rather than tying a statute of limitations to the date of the injury (as the two statutes within the Worker's Compensation Act do), the Court held that the statute of limitations for claims like that asserted by Indiana Spine would seem to be more appropriately related to the date of service. Indiana Service argued that either I.C. § 34-11-2-7's six-year statute of limitation for actions on accounts or I.C. § 34-11-1-2's ten-year statute of limitation for actions that are not limited by any other statute should apply, but the Court did not decide which of these statutes was the proper one to apply, because Indiana Spine's complaint was timely under either statute.

This decision will be a boon to medical providers who feel that they have not been fully compensated in exchange for the services that they provided to injured employees under the worker's compensation system. I expect that someone will have a lawsuit that clarifies whether the 6- or 10-year statute of limitations applies soon.

Brad A. Catlin
Price Waicukauski & Riley, LLC
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