What's Hot in Workers' Comp - News and Results
NEWS
On March 11, Niki Ingram (Philadelphia) was an invited speaker for the Philadelphia Association of Defense Counsel’s “How Women Judges and Lawyers Succeed During Challenging Times.” Niki joined an esteemed panel of judges and lawyers offering advice on how to move forward, while overcoming obstacles, juggling work life with personal life and maintaining civility.
Ashley Eldridge (Philadelphia) is speaking at the “Personal Injury Potpourri” webinar on April 20, hosted by The Dispute Resolution Institute. The day-long event will feature discussion on various topics, including recent case analysis, COVID-19 and workers’ compensation, new disciplinary rule regarding referral fees, Common Pleas update and much more. For more information, click here.
Michele Punturi (Philadelphia) is speaking at the 2021 CLM Workers’ Compensation and Retail, Restaurant & Hospitality Conference to be held virtually on May 12-14. In “Changing the Employee Safety and Wellness Mindset to Reduce Workers’ Compensation Costs and Avoid Liability,” Michele will be part of a panel discussion that will focus on changing the claims management mindset surrounding employee safety and wellness to drive down workers’ compensation costs and avoid liability exposure. Today’s litigious environment, particularly considering COVID-19, calls for an innovative approach that might include self-reporting programs and dedicated medical case management teams to help employers spot issues before they become costly claims. For more information, click here.
Michele Punturi (Philadelphia), Tony Natale (Philadelphia), Jessica Julian (Wilmington) and Ben Durstein (Wilmington) presented the webinar “Workers’ Compensation Winter Roundup” for Pennsylvania and Delaware claims professionals. The webinar addressed current issues in workers’ compensation, including IREs and the use of TNCPs in Pennsylvania, and Medical Only Agreements and use of the Employer Form in Delaware. A recent Delaware case that is the first COVID-19 decision to come down in the state was also discussed.
RESULTS*
Kacey Wiedt (Harrisburg) was successful in prosecuting a modification petition, changing the claimant’s indemnity benefits from temporary total to partial disability based upon a labor market survey. After showing that the claimant had an earning power based upon the labor market survey, the judge modified the claimant’s future indemnity benefits, even though the claimant was unemployed due to the accepted work-related back injury. Kacey was also successful in defending the claimant’s review petition to expand the nature of his injury from the acknowledged injury of a lumbar sprain even though the claimant had a permanent spinal cord stimulator implant in his back.
In another matter, Kacey prevailed on a claim petition, defending his client, a bedding company, on a claim petition which alleged that the injured worker sustained upper extremity injuries as a result of her sewing position. Kacey was able to show through medical evidence and the employer’s testimony that the claimant failed to provide notice of the injury in a timely fashion and that the claimant was neither credible nor persuasive that she sustained a repetitive trauma injury as a result of her job duties.
Kacey obtained a favorable decision from the Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board, reversing the underlying judge’s decision pertaining to the employer’s entitlement to a credit for wages paid to a school teacher pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement. The Board granted credits for wages received by the injured worker through the school district’s collective bargaining agreement, allowing offsets against the claimant’s future entitlement to wage loss benefits.
Michele Punturi (Philadelphia) successfully defended the claimant’s reinstatement petition on behalf of a multi-national car manufacturer. The claimant sustained a work injury on October 18, 2004, in the nature of bilateral strain/sprains CMC osteoarthritis and bilateral dequervains, which was accepted through a Notice of Compensation Payable. Thereafter, the claimant received various periods of disability and periods of return to work, for which benefits were suspended pursuant to Bureau documents and a stipulation. The claimant’s benefits remained on a suspension status as of March 31, 2011. On February 5, 2020, the claimant filed a reinstatement petition. Michele adamantly argued that the petition should be dismissed as the statute of repose bars the claimant’s entitlement to any benefits as he had received in excess of 500 weeks of partial disability status—the claimant received 12.4 years and had not filed the reinstatement petition within three years after the date of his most recent payment of benefits. The judge concluded that the petition was barred pursuant to § 413(a) of the Act and emphasized the Supreme Court’s decision in Cozzone v. WCAB (Pa. Municipal East Goshen Township), which further supported that the claimant’s right to benefits had been extinguished and the petition barred.
Judd Woytek (Allentown) received a favorable decision denying and dismissing the claimant’s claim petition and granting the termination petition. The claim was accepted as medical-only for a low back strain. The claimant then filed a claim petition, seeking wage loss benefits after refusing a modified-duty job offer by the employer. Judd obtained an opinion of full recovery from the IME physician and filed a termination petition. The judge denied the claim petition and granted Judd’s termination petition, finding that the employer had made a good faith offer of employment within the claimant’s restrictions, which she refused to accept. Therefore, the claimant was not entitled to any wage loss benefits. The judge also found that the claimant fully recovered as of the date of our IME and terminated benefits completely as of that date.
Judd also received a favorable decision denying a coal miner’s claim for benefits when the only evidence submitted by his widow was the death certificate that listed severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) as the primary cause of death. The Department of Labor claims examiner agreed with Judd’s position that the death certificate alone was insufficient evidence to sustain the claimant’s burden of proving that her husband had totally disabling coal workers’ pneumoconiosis during his lifetime. Benefits were denied.
*Prior Results Do Not Guarantee A Similar Outcome
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