Description of Work Injury in Claim Petition Matters in PA Workers’ Comp
When a person is injured at work in Pennsylvania, and the injury is not accepted by the workers’ compensation insurance carrier, the injured worker must file a Claim Petition to seek benefits. Once the Claim Petition is filed, the insurance carrier has 20 days to file an Answer, responding to the allegations of the Claim Petition. If the workers’ comp insurance company does not file an Answer within those 20 days, the injured worker can file what is (informally) called a “Yellow Freight Motion.”
If this Motion is granted, all well-pled facts in the Claim Petition are deemed admitted. The appellate courts in PA have told us that this Motion is not the same as a default judgement. Ongoing disability can still be challenged by the insurance carrier, and proofs by the injured worker can be required by the WCJ.
A recent case decided by the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, Hollis v. C&R Laundry Services LLC (Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board), addressed what constitutes a “well-pled fact” when it comes to the description of injury. Here, the employee was a truck driver who was involved in a motor vehicle accident while working. When the injury was denied, a Claim Petition was filed. The injury was alleged to be “left rotator cuff pathology/cervical left side radiculopathy, [Cervical, Thoracic, Lumbar] sprain/strain.”