Mouledoux, Bland, Legrand & Brackett has joined the Louisiana Association of Self Insured Employers (LASIE) in an amicus brief to the Supreme Court in the workers’ compensation hearing loss case of Hartman v. St. Bernard Parish Fire Department & Fara.

Since the Supreme Court’s 2015 ruling in Arrant v. Graphic Packaging Int’l, Inc.—which found that gradual, noise-induced hearing loss fell within the purview of the Louisiana Workers’ Compensation Law—there have been multiple attempts to expand La. R.S. 23:1221(4)(p) to include an award of permanent partial disability benefits for gradual hearing loss. These efforts have been unsuccessful to date, given that the statute clearly and unambiguously restricts benefits to hearing loss resulting from a single traumatic accident. It is our hope that by lending our support to this amicus brief, we can persuade the Supreme Court to maintain the decision of the appellate court and prevent an improper expansion of the Louisiana Workers’ Compensation Law.