Attorney was successful in a Claim Petition

Attorney was successful in a Claim Petition. Claimant worked as a forklift operator and suffered a low back strain in June of 2009. She returned to work modified duty and continued to work modified duty until December 2009. She stopped working and had surgery in April 2010. The attorney was able to present medical testimony that was accepted by the Judge that the claimant's surgery in April of 2010 was for a chronic condition and not the work incident of June 2009. He also presented employer testimony that modified duty work was available to the claimant and she stopped working without providing a medical excuse until 30 days later. In addition, John had requested claimant's family physician's records pre-dating the work injury. Claimant only provided the last two years of medical records from June 2007 to June 2009. The Judge had ordered her to produce the name of her treating physician and/or the records before June of 2007 which claimant failed to do. The Judge noted in his Decision the claimant's failure to produce discoverable medical records in a workers' compensation case and took an adverse inference against her credibility. As a result, claimant was awarded no benefits including medical or wage loss benefits in this case.