PAMELA SNOWDEN, Widow of Deceased Employee JEFFREY SNOWDEN; and GENEVIEVE SNOWDEN, Dependent of Deceased Employee Plaintiff,
v.
HELGET GAS PRODUCTS, INC., a Corporation, Defendant.
No. 2574
DOC 203
Nebraska Workers Compensation
September 14, 2007
W.
Craig Howell, Attorney at Law Derr and Howell P.C., L.L.O.
Jerold
V. Fennell, Attorney at Law
Matthew J. Buckley, Attorney at Law
ORDER OF AFFIRMANCE ON REVIEW
THIS
MATTER came on for a review hearing before a panel of the
Nebraska Workers’ Compensation Court at Omaha, Douglas
County, Nebraska, on May 1, 2007, on the Application for
Review filed by the plaintiffs on December 22, 2006, alleging
errors in the Award on Remand entered on December 15, 2005,
by Judge Michael P. Cavel, and upon the written briefs and
oral arguments of the parties.
I.
In
their Application for Review the plaintiffs allege various
errors, which consolidated and renumbered, claim that (1) the
trial court erred in failing to award to plaintiffs certain
medical expenses incurred by plaintiff’s decedent and, (2)
the trial court erred in concluding that Jeffrey Snowden’s
death was the product of willful negligence. Each of these
alleged errors will be considered, in turn.
II.
Counsel
for the plaintiffs, both in his brief and oral argument,
contends that Judge Cavel erred in failing to find various
medical expenses submitted by the plaintiffs at trial (E8) to
be compensable. Specifically, plaintiffs lament the fact that
the trial found but $14,296.29 of the $66,352.92 in medical
bills introduced to be compensable.
Counsel
does not appear to take issue with the findings of the trial
court as to why the submitted bills were rejected
(lack of medical opinion and/or documentation establishing a
causal nexus between the bills submitted and the accident and
injuries at issue (T16-17)), but rather, argues that
defendant’s lack of objection to the exhibit established
their compensability. Restated, plaintiff’s assert that a
failure to object to the offer of medical bills in a workers’
compensation...
