01/21/2026
A big Workers’ Compensation win for Partner Chris Brennan and a Wyoming worker who gave more than four decades of his life to the coal industry.
Our Client, a 71 year old with 42 years of experience in coal mines and plants as a hands-on supervisor, was injured in 2015 lifting a ladder on the job and has lived with chronic pain in the back ever since. He tried to keep working part-time, but his pain, need for a cane, and daily limitations made it impossible to continue.
Despite his long career and serious medical issues, the Workers’ Compensation Division denied his application for permanent total disability benefits, claiming there was no physician certification that he was totally disabled and that his age was the true reason he couldn't work. Refusing to let that be the end of the story, Chris took the case to a contested hearing and argued that our Client qualified for benefits under Wyoming’s odd-lot doctrine. The odd-lot doctrine is a legal standard that protects injured workers who, because of age, education, and medical limitations, are no longer realistically employable.
At the hearing, the panel heard evidence of years of treatment and functional limitations. A vocational expert confirmed what our Client’s life already showed: his age, lack of computer skills, and significant physical restrictions meant real-world jobs were not actually available to him.
The panel concluded he cannot return to his prior heavy work, and determined that his age, education, and medical condition place him in the odd-lot category for permanent total disability. The Division failed to prove there were suitable light-duty jobs realistically available, so the panel reversed the denial and ordered the Division to grant him permanent total disability benefits.
For our Client, this decision means long-overdue financial security after a lifetime of hard work. For our firm, it’s another reminder of why we fight: to stand up for injured workers when the system says “no” and the law says they deserve better.
