No. 00107994 (1999). EMPLOYEE: Peter Pierce.

• Case Date: May 06, 1999
• Court: Massachusetts

Massachusetts Workers Compensation 1999. No. 00107994 (1999). EMPLOYEE: Peter Pierce COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS EMPLOYEE: Peter Pierce EMPLOYER: Matuszko Trailer Repair, Inc. INSURER: Travelers Property CasualtyBOARD NO. 00107994REVIEWING BOARD DECISION (Judges Carroll, Levine and Maze-Rothstein)APPEARANCES Alan S. Pierce, Esq., for the employee Gail E. Quinn, Esq., for the insurer CARROLL, J. The insurer appeals a § 11 hearing decision in which the employee was awarded weekly § 34A benefits, continuing medical expenses under § 30, attorney fees and reasonable expenses. The insurer contends that the judge's finding that the employee is permanently and totally incapacitated is arbitrary and not supported by the evidence. We disagree and therefore affirm the decision. At the time of the hearing, Peter Pierce was fifty-five years old and married with three adult children. Mr. Pierce was born and raised in Jamaica where he received a high school education, which is less than the equivalent of a high school education in the United States. (Dec. 273.) Upon coming to the United States, the employee completed a one-year trade school program at the Brooklyn, New York, YMCA. He began working as a truck driver, driving eighteen-wheelers and did this type of work for twenty-five years. Id. For a time in the 1980s he owned a trucking business and was the sole driver, operating an eighteen-wheeler exclusively for one customer. Id. On January 24, 1994, Pierce was struck by a car while checking his truck lights by the side of the road. Id. He was thrown onto the hood of the car and then rolled off, landing in the road. He felt pain everywhere. Id. Pierce was working for Matuszko Trailer Repair, Inc. at the time and Travelers, the workers' compensation insurer, accepted liability for the injury. (See Stipulations Dec. 271.) The employee has not returned to work since. (Dec. 273.) In the months that followed, many of Mr. Pierce's maladies resolved. However, his right arm and shoulder pain persisted. Several diagnostic tests were performed. In February 1995, the employee underwent surgery involving a fusion of his cervical spine from C4 to C6, diskectomies at multiple levels, the excision of the C5 disc, and a bone graft. Id. As the maximum entitlement under § 34 approached, the employee filed a claim for...