Deuser v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

12 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 12 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, the average weekly wage of the injured employee at the time of the injury is the basis upon which to compute compensation and is determined as follows: [Subsections (1) and (2) provide formulas for calculating average annual earnings based upon 300 times the average daily wage for a six-day per week worker and 260 times the average daily wage for a five-day per week worker.] (3) If either of these methods set out in (1) and (2) of this section of arriving at the average annual earnings of the injured employee cannot reasonably and fairly be applied, the average annual earnings are the sum which, having regard to the previous earnings of the injured employee in the employment in which he was working at the time of the injury, and of other employees of the same or most similar class working in the same or most similar employment in the same neighboring locality, or other employment of the employee, including the reasonable value of the services of the employee if engaged in self-employment, reasonably represents the annual earning capacity of the injured employee.”

   4 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Peck v. Alaska Aeronautical, Inc. · Peck v. Alaska Aeronautical, Inc.

2. ““An estimate of earning capacity is a prediction of what an employee’s earnings would have been had he not been injured. Earning capacity, for the purposes of a temporary award, however, [as in Deuser ] may differ from earning capacity for the purposes of a permanent award. In the former case the prediction of earnings need only be made for the duration of the temporary disability. In the latter the prediction is more complex because the compensation is for loss of earning power over a long span of time. Thus an applicant’s earning capacity could be maximum for a temporary award and minimum for a permanent award or the reverse. Evidence sufficient to sustain a maximum temporary award might not sustain a maximum permanent award. In making an award for temporary disability, the [Board] will ordinarily be concerned with whether an applicant would have continued working at a given wage for the duration of the disability. In making a permanent award, long-term earning history is a reliable guide in predicting earning capacity, ...””

   4 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Brunke v. Rogers & Babler · Peck v. Alaska Aeronautical, Inc.

3. “We agreed with Johnson and held that [i]f there is only a slight variance between wages at the time of injury and the average weekly wage arrived at under the formula prescribed by subsection (2) it would not be unfair to utilize the formula prescribed by subsection (2). In the present case, however, the apparent disparity between Johnson’s military salary and what he actually earned at the time of his disability is so substantial that application of the subsection (2) formula clearly does not fairly reflect his wage-earning capacity. The Board should, therefore, have calculated Johnson’s average weekly wage under subsection (3).”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Peck v. Alaska Aeronautical, Inc. · Peck v. Alaska Aeronautical, Inc.