HELENA - The Montana Supreme Court today upheld a state law cutting off worker's-compensation benefits for injured, disabled workers at retirement age.

The 5-2 ruling came in a case that insurers and businesses said would have cost them millions of dollars, had it gone the other way.

The court majority said the state Legislature properly limited workers' compensation benefits for those who suffer permanent, total disability from an on-the-job injury.

Montana State Fund President Laurence Hubbard said today he's "quite relieved" with the decision, which he had said might have cost the State Fund $300 million for current and future claims.

The State Fund handles work-comp insurance for about 27,000 Montana businesses.

The state's top business lobby, the Montana Chamber of Commerce, also hailed the decision, saying it's a "legitimate government interest" to keep work-comp costs affordable for small businesses.

The case concerned an Anaconda woman and two other workers whose on-the-job injuries made them unable to work.

Under state law, their work-comp benefits ended when they reached retirement age and qualified for Social Security.

Their lawyer, Jim Hunt of Helena, argued that the limit violated the state constitution by denying benefits to one class of workers but not another.

He said at an oral argument before the high court this summer that injured workers ended up with a "pittance" of a Social Security benefit for the rest of their lives, unable to augment that benefit by working.

Justice William Leaphart wrote the majority opinion of the Supreme Court, saying businesses shoulder the cost of work-comp insurance with the expectation that the cost will be consistent.

Without limitations like the cut-off of some benefits when a worker retires, that predictability would be lost, Leaphart wrote.

In a dissenting opinion, Justice Brian Morris said injured workers, through the work-comp system, have given up their right to sue for greater damages.

The limit in this case "eviscerates" the deal for workers who now receive "nothing in the form of workers' compensation benefits upon their eligibility for" Social Security, he said.

Justice James Nelson joined Morris in the dissent. Justices Jim Rice, John Warner, Pat Cotter and Mike McGrath joined the majority.

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• Workers’ compensation case before state high court