Name
Jackson v. Pratt-Abbott Cleaners
Insurance Company
Date Decided
May 8, 2014
Panel Members
Sue Jerome
Evelyn Knopf
Mike Stovall
Categories
Res JudicataTags
Multiple Injuries Multiple Physicians Res Judicata
File Size
186 KB
DownloadSummary from the Troubh Heisler Attorneys
Appellate Division holds that where employee is being paid under a decree that establishes three dates of injury contribute to the incapacity, and where Pratt petitioned for review to discontinue benefits under the most recent of the three injury dates it chose to pay under, it was error the ALJ to discontinue benefits under all three dates of injury. It remanded the case for decisions on the two earlier date for which there were now petitions for review.
The Panel also rejected Jackson’s argument that the ALJ was bound by the earlier decree finding the injuries aggravated her degenerative disease and erred in accepting Dr. Pier’s opinion that the aggravation has resolved. Comparative medical evidence can come from different physicians so long as the later physician becomes familiar with the earlier facts and opinions, either through review of medical records or a hypothetical which asks the physician to assume the validity.