No. 03472795 (1999). EMPLOYEE: Michael Hannon.

• Case Date: October 08, 1999
• Court: Massachusetts

Massachusetts Workers Compensation 1999. No. 03472795 (1999). EMPLOYEE: Michael Hannon COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS EMPLOYEE: Michael Hannon EMPLOYER: Energy Insulation Conservation, Inc. INSURER: New Hampshire, C/O AIGCSBOARD NO. 03472795REVIEWING BOARD DECISION (Judges McCarthy, Wilson and Smith)APPEARANCES Michael R. Castano, Esq., for the employee at hearing Justin F.X. Kennedy, Esq., for the employee on brief Donald E. Wallace, Esq., for the insurer MCCARTHY, J. Michael J. Hannon appeals a decision in which an administrative judge awarded him a closed period of temporary total incapacity benefits. The judge ended weekly benefits on November 14, 1995, the date Mr. Hannon was involved in a non-work-related motor vehicle accident. Because we find the judge's reasoning in terminating the employee's benefits on that date ambiguous, we recommit the case for clarification. The employee injured his upper back while working on August 14, 1995. (Dec. 5.) Not able to return to work, Hannon began chiropractic treatment. (Dec. 6.) The insurer paid weekly temporary total benefits without prejudice from that date until December 18, 1995. By the time the hearing took place, the insurer had accepted liability for the August 14, 1995 injury. (Dec. 4.) Mr. Hannon was involved in a non-work-related motor vehicle accident on November 14, 1995, in which he sustained new and severe injuries which caused a worsening of his medical condition. (Dec. 4, 6, 9.) The employee filed a claim for further weekly incapacity benefits, which was denied following a § 10A conference. Hannon appealed to a full evidentiary hearing. (Dec. 2.) After a medical examination of the employee pursuant to § 11A(2), the judge found the medical issues complex and opened the record for additional medical evidence. (Dec. 2-3.) The employee introduced the depositions of his chiropractor, Dr. Deborah Ann Mager, and his neurologist, Dr. Roger L. Kinnard. The insurer offered the deposition of Dr. Edwin T. Wyman. (Dec. 1, 6, 16.) The judge discredited the employee's testimony that his work-related medical condition had not improved by November 14, 1995, the date of the motor vehicle accident. Instead the judge adopted the testimony of Dr. Kinnard, who noted the employee's history of improvement in his work-related medical condition as of his first examination on October 26, 1995. (Dec. 11-12.) The judge also did not credit the employee's testimony that he could not recall if he sustained head, neck, back injuries and a pinched nerve as a result of that motor vehicle accident. (Dec. 8-9.) Adopting the testimony of...