Dennis Chabot, Senior
v.
Raylar Limited Partnership d/b/a Howard Johnson Motor Lodge
Opinion No. 05-20WC
Vermont Workers Compensation Decisions
State of Vermont Department of Labor
February 25, 2020
State
File No. KK-408
Claimant, pro se.
Richard Windish, Esq., for Defendant.
Beth
A. DeBernardi, Administrative Law Judge.
RULING
ON DEFENDANT’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT
Michael A. Harrington, Interim Commissioner.
ISSUE
PRESENTED:
Is
Claimant’s claim for workers’ compensation
benefits for alleged work-related asbestosis time-barred as a
matter of law?
EXHIBITS:
Defendant’s
Statement of Undisputed Material Facts filed January 15, 2020
Defendant’s
Exhibit A: Secretary of State’s listing for Raylar
Limited Partnership
Defendant’s
Exhibit B: Secretary of State’s listing for Rutland
Management, Inc.
Defendant’s
Exhibit C: Notice of Injury and Claim for Compensation (Form
5) filed December 22, 2017
Defendant’s
Exhibit D: December 6, 2018 letter from the
Department’s Specialist to Claimant and Hanover
Insurance Company
Claimant’s
Exhibit 1:
1 Claimant’s December 7, 2018 revised
claim narrative
Claimant’s
Exhibit P1-P2: Social Security Administration’s
documentation of Claimant’s wages earned from Defendant
in 1989 and 1990
Claimant’s
Exhibit P3: January 21, 2000 Vermont Department of Health
engineer’s letter to the Rutland Howard Johnson Inn
concerning asbestos
Claimant’s
Exhibit P4: Record of OSHA’s December 17, 2000 amended
penalty for failure to abate asbestos issued to an unnamed
respondent
Claimant’s
Exhibit P8-9: OSHA’s December 6, 1999 referral reports
concerning asbestos at the Rutland Howard Johnson Inn
Claimant’s
Exhibit P12A: September 13, 2017 medical record from Mark
Jacob, MD, stating a diagnosis of asbestosis
FINDINGS
OF FACT:
Considering
the evidence in the light most favorable to Claimant as the
non-moving party, State v. Delaney, 157 Vt. 247, 252
(1991), I find the following facts:
1. Claimant was an employee of Defendant, the operator of the
former Rutland Howard Johnson’s Motor Lodge, from 1981
until April or May of 1990. Defendant’s Statement
of Undisputed Material Facts ¶¶ 1-2;
Claimant’s Exhibit 1; Claimant’s Exhibit
P1-P2.
2. Claimant was diagnosed with asbestosis on September 13,
2017. Defendant’s Statement of Undisputed Material
Facts ¶ 3; Claimant’s Exhibit P12A.
3. On December 22, 2017, Claimant filed a claim for
workers’ compensation benefits for asbestosis allegedly
caused by exposure to asbestos in Defendant’s
workplace. Defendant’s Statement of Undisputed
Material Facts ¶ 4; Defendant’s Exhibit C, Notice
of Injury and Claim for Compensation (Form 5).
CONCLUSIONS
OF LAW:
1. In
order to prevail on a Motion for Summary Judgment, the moving
party must show that there exist no genuine issues of
material fact, such that...