Permanent disability
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 290 U.S. 551 - Lumbra v. United States · 1934Most cited · 767 citing opinions
Permanent disability' means that which is continuing as opposed to what is temporary. Separate and distinct periods of temporary disability do not constitute that which is permanent.
How the Supreme Court has restated “Permanent disability”
Each Supreme Court definition of “Permanent disability,” sized by how often later courts cited it. “Change” is measured by wording overlap with earlier definitions — a rough signal, not a semantic judgment.
How often courts cite the cases defining “Permanent disability”
Court decisions citing the 3 opinions that defined “Permanent disability” — 1,602 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining cases as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.
All 3 definitions, chronological · 1934–1941
permanent' means that which is continuing as contrasted with that which is 'temporary.' Periods of total temporary disability, though likely to recur at intervals, do not constitute the disability covered by the policy.
A disability is permanent when it is of such a nature that it is reasonably certain it will continue throughout a person's lifetime.