The Freibott Law Firm was recently successful in prosecuting a case on behalf of one of its clients. Our client was injured on March 15, 2021 while working as a supervisor and foreman at FastTrack Coatings Co., Inc., an industrial floor coating and concrete repair business. Our client injured his left hand, his lumbar spine, and left hip. The Employer disputed any causation of any left hip injury and denied the extent of the low back injury as well as any period of disability. The Industrial Accident Board found our client to be credible and found the testimony of Dr. Meyers, a physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist, to be superior to that of the defense expert, Dr. Piccioni, an orthopoadic surgeon. The Industrial Accident Board rejected the opinion of Dr. Piccioni because his testimony equivocates and speculates rendering his testimony non reliable. In the end, the Industrial Accident Board agreed that our client sustained a hand injury; a hip injury; and a severe low back injury. The Industrial Accident Board awarded ongoing total disability benefits from June 4, 2021. It is interesting to note, as well, that the Industrial Accident Board rejected the defense argument as to how to calculate our client’s average weekly wage and relied upon the testimony from the Claimant as to his actual average weekly wage. Accordingly, the Industrial Accident Board awarded ongoing medical treatment, ongoing total disability, ordered the worker’s compensation insurance company to reimburse our firm for our expert witness fee and awarded an attorney’s fee for our successful presentation of the case. (Michiels v. FastTrack Coatings Co. Inc.., Hearing No.: 1513215 Date of Decision: June 3, 2022)
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