Successfully defended Claim Petition in which the employee alleged work-related lower back injury.  The injury was not witnessed and employee presented to the panel provider but refused to participate in a drug test.  Later, employee failed to attend appointments with the panel provider and then began treating with doctors recommended by his attorney.   Surveillance was obtained showing employee working as a caddy contradicting the restrictions imposed by his treating doctor who indicated that he was unable to return to work. The Judge rejected the employee’s testimony finding it not credible based upon his refusal to participate in a drug test and his insistence that he was disabled despite his caddying activities.

Successfully defended a Claim Petition in which the employee alleged that she suffered a back injury while removing snow from vehicles.  However, evidence from her co-workers indicated that she did not remove snow since she was a supervisor and that she did not make any lower back complaints until after she moved over the weekend. In addition, the employee was terminated for cause because shortly after her alleged injury, she fabricated a customer’s signature on a purchase order. The Judge found her testimony to be completely not credible based upon the fabricated signature and the testimony of her co-workers. She underwent back surgery as a result of the alleged injury and so the indemnity exposure was approximately $40,000.

Prevailed in case before Commonwealth Court in which the employee alleged a knee injury while running from his place of employment to his vehicle.  The employee received a telephone call from his daughter’s school that the daughter was missing.  He immediately left his employment and while running to his vehicle, suffered an injury to his knee when it buckled.  The claim was originally granted by the Judge who concluded that the employee was in the course and scope of his employment while running to his car.  The matter was appealed to the Appeal Board which affirmed the decision, but the decision was later overturned by the Commonwealth Court.