Engler v. American Friends of the Hebrew University
34 FLW D1122
JCC determined by order that the accident was the major contributing cause of the claimant’s injuries. In subsequent proceedings, new treating doctors with records concerning the claimant’s prior injuries determined that the injuries were not caused by the accident. This new medical testimony was not presented in the proceedings where JCC determined that the accident was the major contributing cause of the injury. JCC denied benefits based on the new medical testimony.
Once compensability is established, the employer/carrier can no longer contest that the accident was the major contributing cause of the injuries at issue. It can only contest the connection between the claimant’s need for specific treatment or benefits in the industrial accident. The new doctors’ opinions that the injuries were not caused by the accident was based upon records that pre-dated the compensable accident and could have been presented by the medical experts that testified in the original proceedings wherein the JCC determined that the accident caused the injuries. JCC erred in reliance on such evidence since effectively, this gave the employer/carrier "another bite at the apple." Court relied in part on the doctrine of Res Judicata in determining that the JCC erred in allowing evidence available at the first hearing to be used in subsequent hearings.