Providence Washington Insurance Co. v. Bonner

RABINO WITZ,

Justice, concurring. •

I write separately to note that for the first time we are applying the pro-worker presumption of AS 23.30.120(1) to a dispute between insurance companies. We foreshadowed this approach in Ketchikan Gateway Borough v. Saling, 604 P.2d 590 (Alaska 1979), which established the “last injurious exposure” rule for assigning liability to successive employers, and Parker Drilling Co. v. Wester, 651 P.2d 842 (Alaska 1982), which extended this rule to successive insurance carriers. Today’s decision makes clear that when a worker is admittedly disabled and a “preliminary link” connects the injury to the worker’s most recent employer or compensation carrier, and that employer or carrier does not come forward with substantial evidence to oppose the statutory presumption of com-pensability, it will have the entire burden of paying compensation.' In other words, carriers in Industrial Indemnity’s position can use the statutory presumption against carriers like Providence Washington. In my view the rule adopted today will simplify proceedings before the Board and thus reduce the hazards interinsurer disputes pose for the injured worker.