EDWARD J. CLARKE
v.
UNITED PARCEL SERVICE LIBERTY INSURANCE CORPORATION, Insurance Carrier LIBERTY MUTUAL INSURANCE CO, Claim Administrator
Jurisdiction Claim No. 2234455
Claim Administrator File No. 80D044623
Virginia: In The Workers’ Compensation Commission
April 1, 2021
Date
of Injury April 29, 2005
Edward
J. Clarke, Claimant, pro se. [1]
Joseph
P. Smith, III, Esquire For the Defendants.
REVIEW
on the record by Commissioner Marshall, Commissioner Newman,
and Commissioner Rapaport at Richmond, Virginia.
OPINION
NEWMAN
Commissioner
The
claimant requests review of the Deputy Commissioner’s
October 27, 2020 Opinion finding the left knee surgery
recommended by Dr. Cyrus Kump was not causally related to his
work accident. We AFFIRM.
I.
Material Proceedings
The
claimant’s April 29, 2005 left knee injury is the
subject of a Medical Award. The present matter came before
the Commission on the claimant’s March 24, 2020 claim
seeking authorization of left knee surgery as recommended by
Dr. Cyrus Kump. The claim was defended on the grounds there
was no causal relationship between the claimant’s
injury and the requested medical treatment.
In
denying the claimant’s application, the Deputy
Commissioner noted that Dr. Kump had not expressed an opinion
regarding whether the surgery he recommended was causally
related to the claimant’s April 29, 2005 injury. In the
absence of such an opinion, the Deputy Commissioner declined
to award the surgery, finding the claimant had not proven it
was causally related to the workplace accident.
The
claimant requests review.
II.
Findings of Fact and Rulings of Law
A.
The Claimant’s Request for a Continuance
At the
evidentiary hearing the claimant, then represented by
Attorney Jamie L. Karek, requested that the evidentiary
record be held open for thirty days to allow her to secure a
response from Dr. Kump to Dr. Goradia’s opinion that
the recommended surgery was causally unrelated to the
accident. No objection was interposed by the defendants and
the Deputy Commissioner granted the request. On October 9,
2020, the Deputy Commissioner wrote the parties, advising
that thirty days had passed without the filing of the report
from Dr. Kump and so the record was closed. No objection was
raised by or on behalf of the claimant. On October 27, 2020,
the Deputy...
