JOSHUA BERRENT
v.
PET RETAIL BRANDS LTD ZURICH AMERICAN INS CO, Insurance Carrier
ZURICH AMERICAN INSURANCE COMPANY, Claim Administrator
Jurisdiction Claim No. VA00001691450
Claim Administrator File No. 2440322758
Virginia Workers’ Compensation
Virginia In The Workers’ Compensation Commission
March 16, 2021
Date
of Injury: January 4, 2020
Bryan
G. Bosta, Esquire For the Claimant
Dennis
Boyd Cook, Esquire For the Defendants.
REVIEW
on the record by Commissioner Marshall, Commissioner Newman,
and Commissioner Rapaport at Richmond, Virginia.
OPINION
NEWMAN
Commissioner
The
defendants requested review of the Deputy
Commissioner’s November 23, 2020 Opinion awarding the
claimant continuing temporary total disability benefits,
finding that he remained totally disabled after April 6,
2020. We AFFIRM.
I.
Material Proceedings
The
claimant, a store manager, sustained injuries when he fell
from a loft on January 4, 2020. He filed a claim seeking
temporary total disability beginning January 5, 2020, and an
award of medical benefits for injuries to his head, traumatic
brain injury with concussion, and cervical fractures.[1] The parties
stipulated to a compensable injury by accident and to the
injuries alleged, as well as to temporary total disability
benefits from January 5, 2020, through April 6, 2020. The
defendants disputed the claimant was totally disabled after
April 6, 2020, and contested his claimed disability
entitlement following that date, asserting that he failed to
market his residual capacity.
The
Deputy Commissioner held that the claimant proved total
disability beginning January 5, 2020, and continuing. The
defendants request review of the finding of disability after
April 6, 2020.[2]
II.
Findings of Fact and Rulings of Law
The
claimant, a pet store manager, testified that on January 4,
2020, he had climbed up to the store’s loft to retrieve
some storage containers. The claimant hit his head on a low
hanging pipe and fell to the floor twenty feet below. The
parties stipulated to head, brain and neck injuries and to
disability through April 6, 2020. Solely...
