John Carroll v Byrne & Jones Enterprises, Inc.
Inj. No. 21-0587999 (D/A May 2021)
Venue: St. Louis County (Tilley, ALJ)
Issue Date 5 30 2024
The Commission affirmed a denial of SIF benefits on a failure to show prior disablities that reached threshold levels.
The ALJ noted multile reasons. Claimant could not challenge the amount of prior disaiblity which he agreed n a prior settlement (below theshold) by obtaning an expert opinion rating disaiblity at a higher level (above theshold). The ALJ also noted Dr. Volarich's opinions about "exacerbation" were evolving over several of his reports, and did not correspond with claimant's actual testimony but originalted with the expert how a knee condition affects a hand condition.
The ALJ sustained a fund objection to admitting noncertified records relied upon by experts, presumably for the truth of the matter asserted. the ALJ notes such records may be admissible under 287.210.7 if the expert's reports had been submitted by a 60 day motion. The ALJ excluded unemployment records under a relevance objection when rate was an admitted issue.
