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Judge Burke Case

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I attended a hearing on your behalf in the above-referenced matter before Judge Burke in Hudson, New York, on 05/17/2017. The claimant was present by phone and was represented by attorney Bob King. Mr. Rumsey was present from the Special Funds 15-8 Unit. As you know, this case is established for the low back with an average weekly wage of $578.90. The claimant has been classified with a permanent partial disability and payments are continuing to him at the marked rate of $289.45. By Notice of Decision filed on 01/10/2007, Section 15(8)(d) was established in this case. The case comes on today on the question of Section 15(8) liability. There is no question that Section 15(8) applies but I do see the Board file contains an RFA-2 that you …show more content…

They were able to identify him by his date of birth and last four digits of his social security number. They confirmed he was alive and well and receiving his Workers’ Compensation checks. At today’s hearing, the claimant was sworn in and confirmed his address. His address has changed to P.O. Box 365 Niverville, New York 12130. His prior address had been P.O. Box 366. The Judge noted that and changed it for the record. I questioned the claimant and confirmed he is receiving his bi-weekly checks at the rate of $289.45 per week. At the conclusion of the testimony today I asked the Judge to make a finding the claimant was alive and well and to direct the Special Funds to make proper reimbursement to the carrier under Section 15(8)(d). Initially the Judge was going to do that but Mr. Rumsey indicated he did not want that finding made because he was not sure if there was an outstanding reimbursement request which had not been paid. He also alleged case law suggesting the Judges and Board Panels do not have the authority to direct reimbursement once Section 15(8) has been established. I took issue with this and pointed out that we are not asking anything more then compliance with the

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