TIMOTHY MASON
v.
WAGNER INDUSTRIES ZURICH AMERICAN INS CO, Insurance Carrier
ZURICH AMERICAN INS CO, Claim Administrator
Jurisdiction Claim No. VA00001595829
Claim Administrator File No. 2440308411
Virginia Workers’ Compensation
Virginia In The Workers’ Compensation Commission
March 19, 2021
Date
of Injury September 3, 2018
Timothy Mason Claimant, Pro Se.
Travis
Kline, Esquire For the Defendants.
REVIEW
on the record by Commissioner Marshall, Commissioner Newman,
and Commissioner Rapaport at Richmond, Virginia.
OPINION
MARSHALL Commissioner
The
claimant requests review of the Deputy Commissioner’s
November 24, 2020 Opinion denying his claim for medical
treatment after July 31, 2019 and retaining jurisdiction over
his claim for permanent partial disability. We AFFIRM.
I.
Material Proceedings
The
claimant filed February 19, 2020, March 25, 2020, and May 20,
2020 claims seeking medical benefits and permanent partial
disability for a left thumb injury.[1] The defendants stipulated
the claimant suffered a compensable hyperextension of the
left thumb and accepted responsibility for medical treatment
until July 31, 2019.
The
defendants disputed the remainder of the claims on the
grounds that there was no causal connection between the work
accident and medical treatment after July 31, 2019, and that
the claimant had not reached maximum medical improvement.
Following
an evidentiary hearing, the Deputy Commissioner issued a
November 24, 2020 Opinion. She found the claimant failed to
meet his burden to show his symptoms after July 31, 2019 were
causally related to the work injury. She noted that the
claimant received no treatment after July 31, 2019, and thus
offered no medical evidence of his symptoms. She found that
the opinion of independent medical examiner Dr. Brian Torre,
offered by the defendants, had a reasonable basis. She
adopted Dr. Torre’s opinion that the claimant’s
symptoms after July 31, 2019 were not causally related to the
work injury. In regards to the permanency claim...
