I attended a hearing on your behalf in the above-referenced matter before Judge Tsyn in Poughkeepsie, New York on 06/01/17. The claimant was present and represented by attorney Edward Seplavy.

As you know, this case is established for injuries to the neck, low back, and right arm with an average weekly wage of $565.01. The issues at this time include permanency, wage-earning capacity and wage expectancy for a minor. The claimant was almost 24 years old at the time of the injury but still under 25 years of age.

The claimant has been precluded from producing medical evidence on the issue of permanency. Since the last hearing we have deposed Dr. Ioia who testified very strongly on your behalf that the claimant had a 2-A rating, symptoms inconsistent with her findings and no correlative imaging studies to substantiate her complaints.

The case was on for the testimony of the claimant on the issues of permanency and wage expectancy.

We have made an offer to settle this case under Section 32 but we have not had a response. The Judge asked if the parties had come to any agreement. Mr. Seplavy indicated he was not prepared to enter into any agreement and wished to go forward with the testimony.

Mr. Seplavy focused his testimony on the claimant’s alleged …show more content…
He found there were many mitigating factors and he reduced the claimant’s loss of wage-earning capacity to 20% as there were no aggravating factors and many mitigating factors. He found that wage expectancy applied in this case pursuant to the Lamiano case. He rejected the claimant’s counsel’s argument that she was pursuing a career in nursing. He stated on the record that even if the claimant had been pursuing this career she would not have completed it by the time she was 25 years old. He then set the average weekly wage including wage expectancy at $625.00, an increase of approximately $60.00 over the current average weekly wage of