Maria Salgado v. Filtration Group Inc.

The petitioner alleged in this case bilateral rotator cuff tears as a result of two separate theories of accident. The petitioner alleged a one-time accident that involved lifting a box of filters, as well as the repetitive trauma of assembling filters. The respondent argued through the independent medical examination report that the petitioner’s actions could not have caused bilateral rotator cuff tears due to the mechanism of injury.

Respondent also denied compensability based upon the fact that the petitioner complained of disliking her new work area prior to the alleged accident and never reported an accident to her supervisor, co-workers or human resources manager.

The arbitrator found that no accident occurred and a “zero” award was secured. The arbitrator relied upon the testimony of the respondent’s H.R. manager, petitioner’s supervisor and a co worker over the testimony of the petitioner and her husband.

The arbitrator also found that any accident alleged would not be causally related to petitioner’s state of ill being due to an improper mechanism of injury. The arbitrator relied upon the independent medical examination report provided by the respondent to come to this finding.

As a result of the arbitrator’s finding, the respondent was saved a total of $52,543.86 in TTD benefits, as well as $311,939.29 in medical bills not including additional proposed treatment.

Please note this matter is now up on appeal.

JRS/jmu

Enclosure

PS:

Commission upheld Arb decision.