The Freibott Law Firm was recently successful in its defense of a termination petition that was filed against one of our clients. It was the position of the Employer that our client’s partial disability status should be terminated because, as the Employer alleged, our client was capable of working without any type of restrictions; therefore, the ongoing partial disability benefit should be terminated.
The Board relied upon the testimony of the Claimant’s treating medical expert, Dr. Crain, over that of the Employer’s defense medical examiner, Dr. Matz. The Board gave deference to Dr. Crain as it was Dr. Crain’s position that our client should be released to work with light duty restrictions with no overhead lifting. Moreover, the Industrial Accident Board found that our client’s testimony was credible in that he had ongoing pain symptoms which were consistent with Dr. Crain’s findings. Accordingly, the Industrial Accident Board denied the worker’s compensation insurance company’s position to terminate the ongoing partial disability status. Furthermore, the Industrial Accident Board ordered the Employer/Carrier to pay an attorney’s fee and to pay for Dr. Crain’s medical expert witness fee.(Caputo-Huenke v. State of Delaware,Hearing No.: 1407438)