Thomas, Thomas & Hafer Attorneys Marc Aoun and John Morgan Prevail on Termination Petition

Thomas, Thomas & Hafer attorneys Marc Aoun and John Morgan recently prevailed before a Greater Philadelphia Area Workers’ Compensation Judge on a hotly contested Termination Petition. What started as a basic Penalty Petition dispute prompted an independent medical examination, which resulted in a full recovery opinion. After the employer filed a Termination Petition, the claimant attempted to expand the work injury and seek additional penalties. The claimant alleged that he developed cervical and lumbar disc protrusions with nerve root compression and spinal canal stenosis. The employer had accepted the injury as a lower back strain and was paying total disability benefits at the rate of roughly $62,000 per year.

Through his questioning of the witnesses, Marc highlight the vast disconnect between Claimant’s subjective complaints and objective physical examination findings. For example, Claimant testified that he could not even enter a PIN into a teller machine, yet his diagnostic studies were completely normal aside from age-appropriate degenerative changes. The WCJ ultimately agreed with the employer’s medical expert and terminated all benefits, largely adopting the reasoning in the employer’s brief prepared by John Morgan.

Questions about this matter can be directed to Marc Aoun at 610-332-7006 or maoun@tthlaw.com, or John Morgan at 267-861-7580 or jmorgan@tthlaw.com.