Summary: An insurer appeals an order from the DLI awarding interim benefits under
§ 39-71-610, MCA. The insurer asserts that the claimant’s treating physician gave him a
full duty release and contends that it had the right to immediately terminate his TTD
benefits without complying with § 39-71-609(2)(a)-(d), MCA, which are commonly called
the “Coles criteria.”

Held: The DLI correctly awarded interim benefits. As one of the insurer’s adjusters noted,
the full duty release generated by the treating physician’s office was most likely a mistake
because it could not be reconciled with the claimant’s other medical records, which
indicate that his physical restrictions preclude him from returning to his time-of-injury job.
Moreover, even if the physician intended to release the claimant to work, a general
release to work in some unknown job is insufficient grounds for an insurer to terminate
TTD benefits under the first sentence of § 39-71-609(2), MCA. Montana law requires an
insurer to have a physician approve a job analysis for an actual job that the claimant is
physically able, and vocationally qualified, to perform. Finally, the insurer did not have
grounds to terminate the claimant’s TTD benefits under the first clause of the second
sentence of § 39-71-609(2), MCA, because the Medical Status Form purporting to release
him to full duty cannot reasonably be construed as the treating physician’s determination
that he had reached MMI, had fully recovered, and could return to his time-of-injury job.

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