Law Office of Alan Tysinger

Appeal No. 190180—Finality Despite Favorable Extent of Injury

Appeal No. 190180—Finality Despite Favorable Extent of Injury Background facts in this case: The DD report placed the claimant at MMI 7/30/17 with a 0% IR as of 10/24/17 exam, including multiple other certifications based on extent of injury. Report was emailed to claimant 10/24/17. No DWC-45 on MMI/IR was... Read more →

Appeal No. 180848-s: Dispute by DWC-45 in the Absence of Prior DD, Effect of Defective DWC-32, and Unexplored Avenues

Appeal No. 180848-s: Dispute by DWC-45 in the Absence of Prior DD, Effect of Defective DWC-32, and Unexplored Avenues In this case, the Appeals Panel reversed and rendered a decision that the first certification of MMI/IR did not become final, contrary to the ruling of the ALJ. The relevant dates... Read more →

Texas Workers' Compensation Impairment Rating Finality: Impairment Rating and Extent of Injury

Appeal No. 191874-s—Implications of finality for extent of injury A decade and a half ago, the Appeals Panel issued a decision on the finality of an impairment rating at the end of the first quarter of supplemental income benefits. In that case, my client was an employee of the Alamo... Read more →

Impairment Rating Finality in Texas Workers' Compensation: Exceptions to Finality

The legislature, in its enactment of a 90 day finality provision for certifications of MMI/IR, included both specific exceptions to finality and an open provision for the agency to add more. Sec. 408.123(f) An employee's first certification of maximum medical improvement or assignment of an impairment rating may be disputed... Read more →

Impairment Rating Finality in Texas Workers' Compensation: Dispute Requirements

A random search for the most useless things ever brings up a few novelties: pre-peeled bananas in plastic wrappers, the pet rock, the ropeless skipping rope, the I Am Rich iphone app ($999.99), and the treadmill bicycle (https://www.indy100.com/article/the-12-most-pointless-things-ever-invented--Z1Sd9fYMbl). These are all items of thankful obscurity, but perhaps equaling these items... Read more →

Impairment Rating Finality in Texas Workers' Compensation: What Isn't Required

As the esteemed jurist and upholder of compulsory sterilization laws, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, is once reputed to have chided a lawyer, “this is a court of law, young man, not a court of justice.” The Workers’ Compensation Act provides ample illustrations of this principle. Among them relevant here would... Read more →

Impairment Rating Finality in Texas Workers' Compensation: Must Dispute within 90 days

The provision requires that the party wishing to dispute the certification of maximum medical improvement and impairment rating file the dispute with the Division prior to the 91st day following receipt of the certification. The statutory provision states that the 90 day period may not be extended. However, like any... Read more →

Impairment Rating Finality in Texas Workers' Compensation: Verifiable Means

The certification must be “provided to the employee and the carrier by verifiable means.” Appeal No. 042163-s discusses this requirement in detail, and Appeals No. 041985-s and 052163-s cite the preamble to Rule 130.12: Written notice is verifiable when it is provided from any source in a manner that reasonably... Read more →

Impairment Rating Finality in Texas Workers' Compensation: Valid Certification

The second element for a certification to become final is that it must be a valid certification. The validity concept itself is comprised of multiple elements. The certification must be on a form DWC-69. This is the form prescribed by the DWC for certifying impairment. The requirement that the form... Read more →

Impairment Rating Finality; First Certification

The initial element that must be met is that the certification is the first certification. This is construed as being the first in time. It is not the first certification in the sense of the earliest date of maximum medical improvement or a prior date of exam. For example, if... Read more →