Jones Jones LLC is pleased to share that Diane Mandleur and her team recently secured the successful dismissal of a potential schedule loss of use (SLU) claim on behalf of a construction client.
The original claim was established on a claimant’s right forearm laceration after the claimant was struck by a wire protruding from a fence. After establishment of the claim on the right forearm, the plaintiff’s attorney raised multiple additional sites that, if established, could have led to large SLU awards or permanency.
At the initial hearing in November, Jones Jones’ attorneys preserved the carrier’s right to depose the treating providers on the additional sites, as well as their right to cross examine the claimant on mechanism of injury testimony. The team approached the case under the theory of “body creep,” proposing that the claimant sought to expand their initial injury to include additional, unrelated body part injuries, conditions or symptoms. Jones Jones obtained witness statements, photos of the job site and deposed four treating providers in support of this perspective.
At a May 11 hearing, the claimant and employer witness testified at great length defending the alleged body creep. The judge found the claimant’s testimony was not credible, citing the pictures and deposition transcripts provided by Jones Jones.
By efficiently working to review the job site and obtain witnesses following the claimant alleging a host of additional body sites, the Jones Jones team was successful in their defense against the claim. The dismissal of the additional claims resulted in an estimated savings of more than $150,000 in medical treatment and SLU (or permanency) awards for the construction client.
Congratulations to Diane and her team for their successful dismissal of this case. If you are in need of assistance with a workers’ compensation case, please contact our team at concierge@jonesjonesllc.com. We take claims of body creep seriously.
