Attorney Ryan M. Clark with the Patterson Law Firm recently obtained favorable results for an Employer and Insurance Carrier in a workers’ compensation matter, in which the Workers’ Compensation Commissioner found that the claimant should take nothing for her claims against the Firm’s clients. The claimant alleged she sustained work-related injuries while working for the Employer in 2019 and 2020. On behalf of the Employer and Insurance Carrier, the Patterson Law Firm denied that either of the alleged injuries resulted in any permanent impairment that could be causally related to the claimant’s work with the Employer. The case proceeded to an Arbitration Hearing, and the Deputy Workers’ Compensation Commissioner (“Commissioner”) ultimately agreed with the arguments presented by the Patterson Law Firm.

Regarding the 2019 alleged injury, expert opinion conclusively established that the claimant did not sustain any permanent impairment, and the claimant could not rely on her own testimony regarding her subjective complaints to overcome the unrebutted expert testimony. Regarding the 2020 alleged injury, evidence established that the claimant previously sustained injuries while working for a prior employer (“Employer A”), which involved the same body parts that she alleged were injured while working for the Firm’s client (“Employer B”) in 2020. After considering the credible expert opinions in the record, the Commissioner found that the claimant did not sustain any new injury or impairment as a result of her alleged injury with Employer B, and that any problems or symptoms in 2020 were attributable to the claimant’s preexisting condition from her injury with Employer A. Thus, the Claimant was not successful in proving either alleged injury caused her any permanent impairment. In light of the above findings, the Deputy denied the Claimant’s requests for IME reimbursement, found that each party shall bear their own costs, and found that the claimant shall take nothing from these proceedings.