Jones Jones LLC congratulates Associate Samantha Sokoloff and her team on the successful appeal of a workers’ compensation law judge’s (WCLJ) decision in front of the New York State Workers’ Compensation Board. This appeal modified the claimant’s original schedule loss of use (SLU) award, bringing the client significant financial savings.
In this case, the WCLJ prevented Jones Jones’ client from producing a permanency report and awarded a 33.25% SLU for the left hip and a 25% SLU for the left knee for a total of 58.25% of the left leg based on claimant’s doctors’ opinions. This was inferred from two medical examiners’ assessments of the injury sites.
When appealing the decision, Sokoloff pointed to previous testimony from both doctors confirming they had not used the claimant’s uninjured contralateral knee and hip as the claimant’s baseline. She argued that whether a claimant is entitled to a schedule loss of use award is dependent on medical opinion and because the testimonies acknowledged an oversight in establishing a baseline, awards should be decided by the Board. The Board agreed and examined the evidence provided by both medical examiners.
Sokoloff’s attention to detail and thorough examination of the evidence was vital in securing the team’s win. The WCLJ decided in favor of Jones Jones’ client, bringing the SLU down to 22.5% total for the left leg, 15% for the knee and 7.5% for the hip.
Thank you to Samantha and team for their incredible work, which saved the nearly $75,000. If you are in need of assistance with a workers’ compensation case, please contact our appellate team at concierge@jonesjonesllc.com
