Stone Container Corp. v. Castle
Supreme Court of Iowa
657 N.W.2d 485 (Iowa 2003)
Walker Castle (plaintiff), after losing both legs at the hip and undergoing multiple skin grafts that left him extremely temperature-sensitive and largely confined to a temperature-controlled room, requested that his employer Stone Container (defendant) provide a replacement laptop after his original workers'-compensation-provided laptop broke; Stone refused, arguing a laptop wasn't "medical care" under Iowa's workers' compensation statute. The industrial commissioner and trial court found the laptop compensable; the court of appeals reversed, and Castle appealed.
Whether, under Iowa's workers' compensation law, an employer is required to provide a device requested by an injured employee if the device replaces a function that was lost as a result of the employee's injury.