LOIS Associate Michael Mahony and Paralegal Amy Ferraro successfully secured a disallowance of a claim for occupational disease for binaural hearing loss and bilateral tinnitus in a New York Workers’ Compensation claim. The claim involved an engineer who alleged occupational disease due to more than a decade working on an operating floor for large machinery.
At the deposition, Attorney Mahony obtained damaging concessions from the treating doctor, including an admission that the doctor knew almost nothing about the claimant’s job, job duties, or work environment. In addition, the doctor conceded there were multiple other potential causes for the claimant’s hearing loss and tinnitus. During oral arguments, Attorney Mahony highlighted the fact that the treating doctor’s report and opinion regarding causal relationship was purely speculative and not based on a rational basis and moved for a disallowance. The Law Judge upheld the position of Attorney Mahony and issued a disallowance. As a result of this favorable outcome, the Carrier is not liable for any incurred bills or any indemnity benefits associated with the disallowed claim.
