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

Thomas, Thomas & Hafer Attorneys Marc Aoun and John Morgan recently prevailed before a Greater Philadelphia Area Workers’ Compensation Judge, terminating a claimant’s benefits while successfully defending the claimant’s attempt to expand her compensable injury. The claimant – a nurse – injured her shoulder at work, but eventually moved across the country to follow her husband’s job and ultimately stopped working as a nurse a few months later, citing problems with her shoulder. After an independent medical examination revealed that the claimant’s shoulder had fully recovered, the employer filed a Termination Petition. The claimant responded in kind with a Review Petition to add a left wrist injury from physical therapy and a mental injury secondary to her alleged depression and anxiety from waiting for a decision on her benefit status.

Attorney Aoun thoroughly cross examined the claimant and her medical experts. He elicited testimony from the claimant that she had no issue working as a stay-at-home mom homeschooling her children and even raising rabbits for food while collecting her weekly disability checks. The claimant further admitted she would rather compromise her standard of living and work an entry level job than ever return to work as a nurse. Claimant’s orthopedist admitted that the left wrist complaints bore no relationship whatsoever to work, and the claimant’s psychologist admitted that he focused almost exclusively on subjective stressors tangentially related to the workers’ compensation claim while ignoring other non-occupational stressors.

Attorney John Morgan prepared the written argument to the WCJ and crafted a theme demonstrating that the claimant wanted to have her cake and eat it too, receiving the income of a nurse while fulfilling her desire to stay home indefinitely despite fully recovering. These arguments ultimately convinced the WCJ to terminate the claimant’s benefits and reject her claim that the work injury involved the left wrist or depression.

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.