RAYMOND E. CORSON (Employee)
v.
JOHN LUCAS TREE EXPERTS (Employer)
and
CANNON COCHRAN MANAGEMENT SERVICES INC. (Insurer)
WCB Nos. 12-034570, 18027151
No. 12-034570C
Maine Workers Compensation Decisions
State Of Maine Workers' Compensation Board
January 14, 2021
Issuance Date: January 14, 2021
Date
of Original Decree: September 11, 2020
DOI:
09/11/2012, 11/13/2018
Within
5 days after ruling on a motion for further findings, the
administrative law judge may request that the full
Workers' Compensation Board review this decision. See
39-A M.R.S. § 320.
Any
party in interest may request an appeal to the Appellate
Division by filing a notice of intent to appeal along with a
copy of this decision with the clerk of the Appellate
Division within 20 (twenty) days of receipt of this decision.
See 39-A M.R.S. § 321-B and M.R.App.P. 23 and
accompanying Advisory Note (available at:
https://www.courts.maine.gov/rules adminorders/rules/text/mr
app p plus 2019-04-25.pdf).
Benjamin E. DeTroy, Es Leary & DeTroy
James
A. McCormack, Esq. Taylor, McCormack & Frame, LLC
RE:
Raymond Corson v. John Lucas Tree Experts Case#: 12-034570C
EVELYN
KNOPF, ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGE
DECREE
AMENDED PURSUANT TO MOTION FOR ADDITIONAL FINDINGS OF FACT
AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
Pending
before the Workers’ Compensation Board are a PETITION
FOR REVIEW OF INCAPACITY and a PETITION FOR PAYMENT OF
MEDICAL AND RELATED SERVICES involving a previously
established left foot injury of September 11, 2012. Also
pending are a PETITION FOR AWARD and a PETITION FOR PAYMENT
OF MEDICAL AND RELATED EXPENSES involving a claimed bilateral
foot injury of November 13, 2018. Raymond Corson, the
employee, filed all of the pending petitions. A hearing was
held on July 8, 2020. Mr. Corson is seeking total incapacity
benefits from February 18, 2019 to the present and continuing
with an offset for disability benefits. He is also seeking
payment of medical expenses as provided in employee exhibits
2 and 2A for treatment by Drs. Lambke and Goodman. [1] The average
weekly wage on the 2012 injury is $737.33, with fringe
benefits of an additional $232.11; and the average weekly
wage on the 2018 injury is $832.13, with fringe benefits of
an additional $178.09.[2] In reaching a decision, I have
considered employee exhibits 1 through 10 and employer
exhibits 1 through 9 as well as the testimony of Mr. Corson
and his wife, Karen Corson. Mr. Corson is represented by
Attorney Ben DeTroy and Lucas Tree Expert/CMSI is represented
by Attorney James McCormack.
The
board issued an earlier decree on the 2012 injury on October
5, 2018. As part of that decision, the board awarded Mr.
Corson protection of the Act for left heel plantar fasciitis,
but denied Mr. Corson’s petition as to his right heel.
Then, as now, the primary issue was causation. The board
noted then that the cause of Mr. Corson’s foot problems
was not straightforward. He had been seen by a number of
providers and received a number of diagnoses.
Prior
to his most recent testimony on July 8, 2020, Mr. Corson last
testified before the board on April 30, 2018. According to
Mr. Corson, approximately seven months after that testimony,
his bilateral foot pain increased. According to the injury
report Mr. Corson filled out on November 15, 2018, he
attributed the increase in pain to walking rocky terrain in
the snow for work. He treated at...