Thomas, Thomas & Hafer Attorneys Caroline Gentilcore and John Morgan Prevail on Termination and Review Petitions

TT&H attorney Caroline Gentilcore recently prevailed before a Greater Philadelphia Area Workers’ Compensation Judge in a Termination and Review litigation. The claimant filed Review Petitions attempting to add a cervical spine injury which required surgery along with the disfigurement resulting from that surgery. The claimant also filed a Review Petition to add lumbar radiculopathy. The accepted injuries only included some scattered soft tissue injuries, but did not include any neck injuries. After an IME, it was determined that the claimant had fully recovered from the accepted injuries, so the employer filed a Termination Petition.

Caroline skillfully demonstrated through cross examination that the claimant’s cervical spine symptoms did not manifest until seven months after the work injury, and the claimant was working full duty and symptom-free for several months in the interim. Caroline also elicited an admission from the claimant’s medical expert that it was not clear why or when the claimant’s low back symptoms mysteriously increased.

The WCJ rejected the claimant’s evidence in its entirety and fully credited the testimony of the employer’s medical evidence, essentially adopting verbatim the reasoning and proposed credibility findings in the brief, which John Morgan prepared.

Questions about this case can be directed to Caroline Gentilcore at (267) 861-7596 or cgentilcore@tthlaw.com, or John Morgan at (267) 861-7580 jmorgan@tthlaw.com.