Successfully Defended Against Two Review Petitions in Shoulder Injury Case

We successfully defended against two review petitions in a case in which the client had accepted the claim as a right shoulder injury. As the claimant was lowering a trailer to a hitch, the trailer fell a few inches, causing the hand crank to spin and jerk the claimant’s shoulder. The claimant filed a review petition seeking to expand the description of injury to include orthopedic injuries (described as a cervical herniation at C6-7, a protrusion at T2-3, and multilevel disc bulges between C2-C6, cervical radiculopathy, lumbar strain/sprain, right frozen shoulder, right brachial plexopathy) and psychiatric injuries (described as somatic symptom disorder with predominant pain and adjustment disorder with mixed anxiety and depression). The claimant’s second review petition sought to increase his average weekly wage to include an expectant rate based on his communications with his dispatcher about potentially working more hours in the future. We argued the claimant did not seek treatment for the additional injuries until months after the work injury. With regard to the psychiatric injuries, we argued the claimant’s expert did not have a full understanding of the claimant’s past and did not discuss his prior substance abuse issues, familial/marital issues, or how he had dealt with prior workers’ compensation injuries. Furthermore, through cross examination, the claimant conceded he did not really understand what psychiatric treatment he was receiving. The workers’ compensation judge found the employer’s orthopedic and psychiatric experts more credible and persuasive than the claimant’s; therefore, the judge did not expand the injury to include the cervical, lumbar and psychiatric diagnoses. Additionally, the judge found there was no evidence to support a higher average weekly wage and compensation rate as the claimant’s wages reflected what he actually earned.