An employee from York, PA, working as a truck driver and yard supervisor for Midlantic Piling, sustained a work injury described as a back and groin strain in July 2012, which the insurance carrier, Bituminous Fire & Marine Insurance, accepted. We had filed a Claim Petition and a Penalty Petition due the insurance carrier’s failure to either accept or deny the claim within twenty-one days. The insurance carrier then accepted the claim and the parties resolved the pending litigation by entering into a Stipulation in which the injured worker’s description of injury was amended to “back and groin strain, a herniated disc at L4/5 and an inguinal hernia” and the employee continued to received temporary total disability wage loss benefits. We then filed another Penalty Petition because the insurance carrier illegally stopped the injured worker’s wage loss benefits. The parties then resolved the pending litigation by entering into another Stipulation in which the employee was paid $1,122.74 in additional partial disability benefits due to him for the time period when he had returned to work while under restrictions. The insurance carrier had the injured worker attend an independent medical examination and the IME physician reported that the his prognosis was guarded because he was having ongoing symptoms of back pain which had not substantially improved in the ten months since undergoing surgery, that he had chronic pain pattern that he required ongoing medical management and structured physical therapy and that he had not reach maximum medical improvement. The injured worker was working light duty with weight restrictions at the time of the IME. While he was working for the time of injured employer, the future benefits were settled for a tax free, one time lump sum of $205,000 via a compromise and release.
