If you are tired of being treated like a number, call The Law Offices of Melissa A. Day at (716) 616-0111
It used to be nearly impossible to reopen a claim based on a defense of labor market attachment when a unemployed claimant had been classified with having a Permanent Partial Disability and entitled to ongoing benefits. Although there are still challenges in getting...
BILL NUMBER: S76 TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the workers’ compensation law, in relation to permanent total disability PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL: This bill will create a presumption of permanent total disability for claimants who are found eligible for federal...
As a former attorney for Special Funds’ Conservation Committee, I noted with great interest that on March 29, 2013, NY’s Workers’ Compensation Law Section 25-a was amended to close the Fund for Reopened Cases to new claims where applications are filed after 1/1/14:...
A chiropractic variance request based on alleged functional improvements and expected continued improvements may not be granted if the chiropractor continues to find that the claimant is totally disabled despite the alleged improvements. In Hudson Valley DDSO, 2013 NY...
I recently encountered what I found to be a fascinating fact pattern while defending a local town on what was otherwise a standard claim involving competing opinions on permanency from an attending physician and an IME. On June 14, 2011, the DEA and local Western New...
Governor Cuomo’s 2013 – 2014 Budget Proposal, includes legislation which, in addition to proposing simplification of employer assessments, closing the Fund for Reopened Cases, issuing bonds to cover the deficits of failed self-insured trusts and raising the minimum...
Summary Regarding Changes (PDF) Highlights of the changes to the MTG include the addition of CTS Guidlines, the addition of provisions related to “Maintenance Care,” and the elimination of anterior acromioplasty and chondroplasty from the list of procedures requiring...
A good friend recently shared a Board Panel decision with me where the Board found that unlike the situation where the carrier has surveillance materials, the existence of which must be disclosed before a Claimant testifies, a carrier does not need to disclose...
WCL §15(3)(v) which permits claimants with SLUs greater than 50% for possible additional payments of compensation following exhaustion of the schedule, should be subject to the new PPD caps found in WCL §15(3)(w) because the statute indicates, among other...
I have a claim where the judge directed submission of briefs on the outstanding issues on a very complicated case including compensability and fraud, which came and went four weeks ago without a submission from Claimant’s counsel. The original date was earlier, but...
This was a claim which was established in 2018, where despite substantial opportunity with her own medical providers, the claimant failed to report that she had returned to work after the accident of this file. The issue was aggressively litigated for fraud, as the...
The claimant injured his back working as a mechanic for a car dealership. In November 2019 his wife’s niece requested on Facebook for recommendations for someone who could remodel her bathroom. The claimant’s wife responds that her husband, the claimant, is really...
Matter of Jacobi is a case that drastically altered how change in conditions for classified claimants are handled. If you recall, for a period of time once a claimant was classified their rate didn’t change to total – even if their doctor said they were totally...
Recently, we have been successful in getting claims dismissed for failing to comply with WCL Section 18. As part and parcel of those determinations, the Board has to make a determination that the employer was prejudiced by the late notice. It is the claimant’s...