If you are tired of being treated like a number, call The Law Offices of Melissa A. Day at (716) 616-0111
Listening to the news earlier today, I heard a talking-head explain she was a member of a law firm which she also described as a “Think Tank.” Now, this lawyer’s firm had strong political ties as well as, I’m sure, a practice focused on cases with political import. ...
By now, we’re all well aware that Matter of Genduso v, New York City Dept. of Edu., 164 A.D.3d 1509 (3d Dept. 2018), affirmed the principle that schedule awards are not given for particular injuries, but rather “for the residual physical and functional impairments”....
In Matter of Darcon Construction, Inc., 2011 NY Wrk Comp. G0223167, the Board stated that the liable carrier in an occupational disease situation would be the employer’s general workers’ compensation carrier, thereby relieving carriers on wrap-up policies of...
This was an established neck and back claim. The issue for litigation was further causally related lost time. The claimant sustained an unrelated motor vehicle accident in February involving various body sites, including her neck and back. As we reviewed the file,...
One issue that I have come across several times in my legal career is whether or not a claimant qualifies as an independent contractor or an employee. The Board Panel recently reviewed this issue in the case of Matter of Clare Hayduscko, 219 N.Y. Wrk. Comp. 40708094...
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...
What do you do when a claimant makes a claim for both noise-induced hearing loss AND traumatic hearing loss, under the theory of, “well, it’s gotta be one of those two,” and your Independent Medical Examination on causal relationship’s been precluded under §137? The...
One of the greatest things the Board ever did for carriers was include a provision in the 2018 Workers’ Compensation Guidelines for Determining Impairment (“Guidelines”) that providers need to measure range of motion of unaffected contralateral limb and use that as a...
In a recent claim, we obtained surveillance of a claimant performing activities well outside of their doctor’s restrictions. From there, we obtained social media sweep-reports. Of note, the carrier’s obligation to disclose surveillance materials applies not just...
As everyone probably knows, Workers’ Compensation Law §21(4) presumes that a work-related accident isn’t only due to an employee’s intoxication on the job, unless there is substantial evidence to the contrary. Workers’ Compensation Law §10(1) similarly says that an...
The issue of apportionment is confusing. Many attorneys apply the wrong standard, the wrong timing, or both which can lead to a hodgepodge of contradicting decisions by Judge’s and also sometimes by the Board. One type of apportionment is “legal apportionment.” ...