Could Claimant who Lost Half his Hand in Meat Grinder get ISIF Benefits?

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Idaho has a special rule that allows a worker to obtain both workers’ compensation benefits and Industrial Special Indemnity Fund benefits when a pre-existing injury combines with a current injury to render him unable to work. But as a case involving a meat grinder accident shows, whether a worker can dip into both sources of benefits may hinge on the severity of the most recent injury.

The claimant, a long-time meat grinder who had endured a series of accidents, including one in which a stack of frozen turkeys fell on him, injured his left wrist at work in 2012. Following that injury, he continued to work in heavy duty jobs. 

In 2015, his right hand got caught in a meat grinder. He lost all his fingers and part of his palm. He was unable to utilize a prosthesis and suffered extraordinary pain for which he had to take heavy medications. As a result, he could no longer work.

The claimant obtained compensation for the meat grinder injury and then sought additional benefits from the State of Idaho, Industrial Special Indemnity Fund.

When a claimant has a pre-existing permanent physical impairment and sustains a subsequent compensable injury, he may be able to obtain:

1. Benefits from the employer for the portion of the disability attributable to the current injury; and
2. Benefits from ISIF for the pre-existing injury.

To do so, the claimant must establish, among other things, that the combined effects of the pre-existing impairment and subsequent injury resulted in total and permanent disability.

The claimant argued that his pre-existing impairments contributed to his total and permanent disability, thus requiring ISIF to provide benefits from the earlier injury.

Was the claimant entitled to ISIF benefits?

A. No. The meat grinder accident was so catastrophic that it clearly caused the total and permanent disability on its own.

B. No. The combined effects of the two injuries made him unemployable.

If you selected A, you agreed with the court in Westman v. Industrial Specialty Indemnity Fund, 574 P.3d 779 (Idaho 2025), which affirmed the denial of the ISIF benefits.

For workers' compensation compliance information from Idaho or 52 other U.S. jurisdictions, head to Simply Research.

To obtain ISIF benefits, the claimant had to show that his pre-existing left wrist injury hindered his employment and that, in combination with the 2015 meat grinder injury, he became totally and permanently disabled.

The prior injury, however, did not restrict his work. Nor did it combine with the 2015 injury in a manner that contributed to his ultimate unemployability. The vocational effects of the meat grinder accident were catastrophic. The claimant had his hand partially amputated, and suffered chronic pain. Those and other factors rendered him unemployable regardless of any prior injuries.

“His disability would have been total without any of these pre-existing conditions,” the court said.

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