Welcome to my website. I can help you with all of your Workers Compensation questions in Denver and all of Colorado.
Welcome to my website. I can help you with all of your Workers Compensation questions in Denver and all of Colorado.
Section 8-43-211(2)(d) provides, “if any person requests a hearing ... on issues which are not ripe for adjudication at the time such request or filing is made, such person shall be assessed the reasonable attorney fees and costs of the opposing party in preparing for such hearing or setting.” The Industrial Claim Appeals Office recently […]
Section 8-42-108(1) permits an Administrative Law Judge to award disfigurement benefits up to a maximum of $4,000 if the claimant is "seriously, permanently disfigured about the head, face or parts of the body normally exposed to public view. . . ." It is settled law that a "limp" is a disfigurement to a part of the […]
Many of you may have received inquiries from the Division of Workers' Compensation Claims Management Unit requesting information on the status of claims which the DWC classifies as "open" claims. There have been a number of questions raised to the DWC regarding what information the DWC will accept to prove the claim is closed, since […]
Steven J. Picardi, Esq., is on the faculty of the continuing legal education seminar Workers’ Compensation Hearings: Techniques and Strategies for Success , presenting the topic “Avoiding Ethical Obstacles.” The topic will focus on avoiding conflicts of interest and the ethical considerations of contacting witnesses and other individuals in a workers’ compensation claim. The seminar […]
The Court of Appeals recently revisited and affirmed prior case law holding that the deadline to request entry of Specific Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law and Order (a prerequisite to any appeal) is jurisdictional, and the failure to request specific findings within the deadline divests the appellate courts of jurisdiction to review the Summary […]
In an effort to ensure that an injured worker will receive workers’ compensation benefits even when his actual employer fails to maintain workers’ compensation insurance, Section 8-41-401 provides that any person or company conducting any business by contracting out any part of its business to any subcontractor shall be liable for workers’ compensation benefits if […]
A study published in 2010 in the international medical journal SPINE compared the outcomes of 725 work comp lumbar fusion cases to 725 randomly selected work comp chronic low back pain patients not undergoing surgery. While this may be something that will come as no surprise to anyone familiar with workers’ compensation claims, the study […]
Steve Picardi recently obtained a major victory for his self-insured client, obtaining an Order which denied the claimant’s request for permanent total disability benefits despite the opinion of the authorized treating physician that Claimant was limited to sedentary duty in a remote mountain town with a very limited labor market. The case serves as an […]
The Workers' Compensation Act of Colorado currently excludes disability or death caused by a heart attack from the definition of “accident”, “injury”, and “occupational disease”, unless it is shown by competent evidence that such heart attack was proximately caused by an “unusual exertion” arising out of and within the course of employment. The legislature is […]
The Industrial Claim Appeals Office recently held that an Administrative Law Judge does not have jurisdiction to extend the thirty-day time limit to file an Application for Hearing to challenge the findings of a Division IME as found in § 8-42-107.2(4). Almanza v. Johnson, W.C. No. 4-713-132 (December 7, 2012). In Almanza, the respondents became […]
Section 8-43-211 (2)(d) provides “if any person requests a hearing or files a notice to set a hearing on issues which are not ripe for adjudication at the time such request or filing is made, such person shall be assessed the reasonable attorney fees and costs of the opposing party in preparing for such hearing […]
Just a reminder that the Medical Fee Schedule (W.C.R.P. 18) increased the reimbursement rate for mileage to $.052 per mile, effective for travel on or after January 1, 2013.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced that effective January 19, 2013, it will begin referencing the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Table 1: Life table for the total population: United States, 2008, for Workers’ Compensation Medicare Set-aside Arrangement (WCMSA) life expectancy calculations. This means that for any newly submitted WCMSA proposal […]
Many insurers and third-party administrators utilize the services of third-party vendors to process payment or denial of medical bills. A recent Industrial Claim Appeals Office case awarding penalties against a self-insured employer for failure of the third-party vendor to process payment or denial of medical bills within the deadlines imposed by the Workers' Compensation Rules […]