Court of Appeals Affirms Commissioner's Decision Concluding that a Decision Specifying a Specific Amount of Benefits is Necessary Before Partial Commutation is Permissible
In July of 2017, the partial commutation statute was amended to permit commutations only if both parties agreed. Prior to the effective date of the statute on 7/1/17, cases were filed throughout Iowa seeking partial commutations despite the fact that no administrative decision had been issued setting the amount of benefits owed to the claimant. These cases were uniformly denied by the commissioner and in Vangetson v. Aero Concrete, Ltd. and Fasig Snitker v. Birdnow Enterprises, Inc ., No. 19-0738 (Iowa App. July 22, 2020), the Court of Appeals affirms the decision of the district court which had, in turn, affirmed the decision of the commissioner. The court focused on the language in section 85.45(1) of the Code which stated that a commutation was possible when "the period during which compensation is payable can be definitely determined" and when the commutation was in the "best interest" of the claimant. The court noted, in reviewing the claim, that the c