Matthews Successfully Defends Against LHWCA Claim

Doug Matthews successfully obtained a decision from Administrative Law Judge Larry Price denying an employee’s claim against his employer for benefits under the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act. The employee was involved in an incident on his employer’s dock where he was said to have been thrown six to eight feet by water escaping from a ruptured pump seal. The employee eventually had surgery on his right knee, which he claimed was injured in this incident. The Judge, however, denied the employee’s claim based upon a showing of the employee’s significant misstatements to his treating physicians of prior medical history including the omission of prior chronic pain and swelling in his right knee.