Recent Case Outcomes

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A Partial List of Successful Cases Closed in 2009 and 2010

A typical notice of proposed termination of compensation to which we responded with arguments and additional medical evidence. The client’s doctor, at my request, wrote a letter contradicting the second opinion physician’s conclusion that the client could return to working full time at the same duties. OWCP sent the claimant to a referee evaluation. Going on one year, and OWCP has not gone forward with a notice of termination to end his compensation. (NY)

A case involving suspension of the claimant’s compensation due to a referee doctor claiming she was uncooperative during a medical evaluation. The examination was difficult because the claimant was required to travel a great distance for her appointment. We requested a hearing, and the decision found she was credible in her explanation. Not only was compensation reinstated, but on remand the District Office was instructed to reschedule an evaluation closer to the claimant’s home. The new evaluation and report ended any threat to her compensation. (ID)

OWCP determined the claimant could work as a receptionist and reduced her compensation based on that wage-earning capacity. She could not do such work because of her physical limitations and also due to her education and employment background. In a request for reconsideration, we successfully argued against the reduction, and the claimant’s compensation was restored in full. (WA)

We requested reconsideration of a hearing decision that upheld termination of compensation. Our argument was that OWCP did not carry its burden to terminate compensation since both the second opinion and referee medical reports were not well rationalized because they were incomplete and speculative. OWCP issued a merit review decision in which it reinstated compensation. (Puerto Rico)

The claimant’s claim was denied for a lung ailment caused by long-term exposure to fuel fumes. An example of the hearing process, in which argument, testimony, and medical reports convince the hearing representative to remand the claim to the District Office for further development. The resulting second opinion medical report established her eligibility for compensation. (WA)

A case that needed to go all the way to ECAB to argue successfully that the claimant was in the performance of duty when she suffered an auto accident. She’d been sent off to fetch a supervisor’s take-out meal. The right answer was obvious, but unfortunately claims examiners and a hearing representative couldn’t see it. (IL)

A very interesting technical case that involved whether the law intended the singular or plural of a word. In a request for reconsideration, we argued for the plural, and the favorable decision meant well over an additional $100,000 in a schedule award. (AL)

In a response to a notice of proposed termination, we argued that the referee doctor had inserted in his report the issue of an intervening cause of disability, which he used to conclude the work injury was less of a cause. Causation is a legal concept with specific criteria. It is most certainly not the domain of doctors. It was easy to show that OWCP had not carried its burden in proposing to terminate compensation. (NH)

The client had been receiving compensation since 1986. He responded to a notice of proposed termination, but OWCP went forward with the termination. At issue was a referee physician’s report that concluded his accepted condition had ceased in 1995, even though he had not yet had the back surgery approved by OWCP. We argued the physician’s opinion was far from rationalized. A hearing decision ordered the District Office to ask the referee physician for clarification of her far-out opinion about the work-related condition resolving. In the meantime, the claimant’s compensation is reinstated. (MD)

A hard-fought case concerning termination of compensation. We appealed, and ECAB reviewed the case and reversed the termination decision. Retroactive benefits, after a disability retirement offset, exceeded $100,000. (ID)

After a failed attempt to return to work, the claimant filed a claim for compensation, but OWCP denied the recurrence claim. At hearing we argued that OWCP did not seek clarification from a referee doctor in the development of the issues. A hearing representative reversed the denial, and OWCP released compensation to the client. (FL)

OWCP attempted to terminate the client's compensation over the course of many years. We responded to proposed notices of termination with arguments and medical records that prevented OWCP from going forward with a termination and forced the claims examiner to seek out and rely on a referee medical report. The physician recommended such involved medical treatment and vocational rehabilitation that termination was impossible. The client's compensation continues uninterrupted. (WA)