Petition to Determine Compensation Due should contain detailed responses and be personally signed by claimant.

Because there have been so many instances where a claimant is confronted with the Statement of Facts in the Determine Compensation Due petition and testifies that he or she has never even seen it nor signed it, the Board emphasized that the best practice is for claimants to sign this pleading. The Board underscored that counsel for the claimant has the obligation to see that the Statement of Facts in the DCD petition is prepared carefully in order to avoid any misrepresentations that could mislead or obstruct the Board and defense counsel. The Board further commented that listing the injury as only “torn meniscus” is clearly inadequate since it does not even give a hint as to which leg was allegedly injured. Likewise, listing $10.00 an hour as to the average weekly wage inquiry is inadequate since the question is asking for a weekly wage that would include the number of hours allegedly worked per week. The Board also reasoned that providing full and detailed answers to the allegations is in the interest of both the claimant and his or her counsel. Failing to do so is likely to lead to delays in having a hearing on the merits of the claim.

_{Case Law Alerts, 3rd Quarter, July 2017}

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