LOIS Senior Associate Anthony Iler recently obtained a favorable Notice of Decision Regarding Application for Full Board file which affirmed the full disallowance of a New York Workers’ Compensation claim. At trial, the claim was established for an injury to the back allegedly stemming from the claimant’s duties as a hotel room attendant. On appeal, Iler persuaded the Board Panel that the Claimant did not meet her burden in demonstrating that an accident occurred or that her injuries were causally related to her work. As such, the Board issued a unanimous Memorandum of Board Panel disallowing the claim. That decision has now been affirmed by the Full Board.
By way of his application and supporting brief, Iler demonstrated that the initial medical records set forth a mechanism of accident wholly unrelated to her employment. Specifically, the records suggest the Claimant was injured at home. In the early stages of litigation, LOIS worked diligently to obtain payroll records which demonstrated that the Claimant did not even work on the date of accident alleged in the claim form executed by the claimant. When confronted with this evidence, the Claimant was forced to change the alleged date of the accident doing damage to her credibility. Further, it was argued two separate treating providers testified that the contents of their reports had been amended at a later date. However, neither could state what specifically was amended or what prompted the amendments. Iler seized upon these concessions and argued that these facts rendered the reports devoid of any evidentiary value. As a result, the claim was disallowed.
