Who’s on First? Carrier Confusion Ends in Waived Defenses and Lost Appeal

A new 3^rd Department appeal decision dropped today involving a workers’ compensation case in New York.

Matter of Rivera v. Lettire Construction Corp., 3^rd Dept., July 9, 2026

This claim for multiple injuries from falling from a ladder was deemed compensable on default. In a who’s on first scenario, Starr Indemnity & Liability Company was initially identified by the Board as the insurance company of record. But later Starr Specialty Insurance was corrected to be the proper carrier. The Board removed Indemnity and put Specialty on notice. Specialty was administrated through the TPA, Helmsman. Helmsman for Specialty filed a FROI-04 denying the claim.

This is where it gets confusing. An attorney appearing at the first hearing identified appearing for Liberty Mutual/Helmsman and asked for Specialty to be placed on notice. The Law Judge noted that Specialty was already on notice but adjourned and allowed Specialty to appear at the next hearing date. At the next hearing, the same counsel appeared for Helmsman but not for Specialty. The Law Judge penalized Specialty for not appearing and found they waived all defenses.

To even make this more complicated, Indemnity filed an appeal to the Board Panel which specified to the extent that it was not clear that Specialty, not Indemnity was to be penalized. Then, in a final act of confusion, Specialty filed an appeal to the 3^rd Dept. The 3^rd Dept. held that because Specialty did not exhaust the administrative appeal process by filing an appeal to the Board Panel first (remember it was Indemnity), the appeal must be dismissed. In the end, Specialty is deemed responsible on default and lost the right to appeal.

Practice Tip:  Should be obvious, but make sure to confirm exactly the name of the insurance company you are representing when appearing. Especially when there is any confusion about the correct carrier, run a Board coverage search and confirm that that carrier for the employer is the correct one.