Name

Claire Violette v. Employment Specialists of Maine Inc.

Insurance Company

Memic

Date Decided

March 31, 2022

Panel Members

Elizabeth Elwin

Tom Pelletier

Categories

Partial Incapacity Board IME Board IME Partial Incapacity

Tags

earning capacity

File Size

115 KB

Download

Summary from the Troubh Heisler Attorneys

Claire Violette v. Employment Specialists of Maine – Ms. Violette was a behavior support specialist whose client threw a shoe and hit her in her jaw, chest and shoulder. She went out of work briefly but returned to work with ongoing cognitive, vision and psychological issues. ESM terminated her employment due to its inability to accommodate her increasing work restrictions, and Violette filed petitions requesting ongoing WC incapacity benefits.

Dr. Riley’s §312 neuropsychological IME found that she did not have a concussion from the work incident. Violette claimed her treating doctors’ reports constituted “clear and convincing evidence to the contrary,” but Judge Knopf adopted the IME results. She granted Violette’s petitions in part for the initial physical injury and exacerbation of her prior mental condition but ordered only partial ongoing benefits based on her full-time work capacity.

Violette appealed, but the Appellate Division affirmed the decision. The panel noted that Dr. Riley’s review was thorough, he understood her prior history, he had a “global overview” of her conditions, and he was “more objective” than her treating doctors, who based their opinions on her “subjective complaints.” The panel also noted that Dr. Riley did not limit her weekly work hours, nor did Ms. Violette’s own doctors.

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