After a traumatic right-shoulder accident, the claimant alleged that overuse caused a consequential left-shoulder injury. Claimant’s counsel presented inconsistent theories—arguing both that the left shoulder was injured during the original accident and that it developed later from overuse.
LOIS Associate Bradley Haymes and Paralegal Gianna Sorrentino used the treating physician’s testimony and the medical chronology to separate those theories. The physician characterized the left shoulder as consequential, not directly injured. The records also showed that left-shoulder complaints arose in the same month as the original accident, even though the claimant was out of work, and attributed some symptoms to sleeping position. Those facts did not persuasively support an overuse mechanism.
The New York Workers’ Compensation Law Judge found that the claimant failed to establish a causally related consequential left-shoulder condition and disallowed that site. The Judge also found that the accepted right shoulder had reached Maximum Medical Improvement because no treatment had occurred for more than a year. The ruling prevented claim expansion and moved the established injury toward a defined permanency posture.
