MISSOURI HODGE
v.
DREAMBUILDER LOGISTICS, LLC
CIMARRON INSURANCE COMPANY INC, Insurance Carrier
BRENTWOOD SERVICES ADMIN, Claim Administrator
Jurisdiction Claim No. VA00001781316
Virginia Workers Compensation
Virginia Workers’ Compensation Commission
March 23, 2021
Date
of Injury: October 3, 2020
Claim
Administrator File No. WC20200017144
Missouri Hodge Claimant, pro se.
Faraaz
A. Jindani, Esquire For the Defendants.
REVIEW
on the record by Commissioner Marshall, Commissioner Newman,
and Commissioner Rapaport at Richmond, Virginia.
OPINION
RAPAPORT Commissioner
The
defendants request review of the Commission’s technical
rejection of their January 22, 2021 Employer’s
Application for Hearing. We REVERSE the rejection, GRANT the
request for review as indicative of the correct payment, and
FORWARD the application for probable cause review.
I.
Material Proceedings
The
unique procedural status of the case is controlling.
The
claimant sustained a compensable injury by accident on
October 3, 2020. By Award Order entered on November 12, 2020,
the claimant was granted the payment of medical benefits and
temporary total disability benefits from October 4, 2020
through October 10, 2020 and continuing from October 13,
2020.
On
January 22, 2021, the defendants filed an Employer’s
Application for Hearing seeking termination of the
claimant’s wage loss benefits and any applicable
credit. The defendants alleged that the claimant refused
medical treatment offered by Dr. Peter White on October 19,
2020 and failed to report a change of address to the
Commission effective November 28, 2020.[1] On the application,
VWC Form No. 5A, the defendants indicated that
“[c]ompensation was paid through 01/21/2020 at the rate
of $310.79 per week.” Defense counsel certified the
application with his signature on January 22, 2021.
The
Commission issued a “Rejection of Employers’
Application” notice on January 25, 2021. The Commission
advised that the application failed to conform to the
requirements of Rule 1.4 of the Rules of the Virginia
Workers’ Compensation Commission because
“[c]ompensation has not been paid through the correct
date.”[2] The defendants were directed to
reinstate compensation benefits immediately, commencing
January 21, 2020.
The
defendants promptly filed a request for review.
II.
Findings of Fact and Rulings of Law
The
Commission’s technical rejection of the application
based upon the four corners of the application, while correct
on strictly technical grounds, is still reversed under the
extremely unusual facts presented in this case. Careful
review of the file indicates that scrivener’s errors
have inadvertently created and compounded confusion in this
particular case.
The
defendants maintain on appeal that compensation...