Matter of Davis v. Gia Quinto Masonry

Summary

The Appellate Division, Third Department affirmed a Workers' Compensation Board decision establishing that a brick mason's bilateral hand, wrist, and knee conditions constituted an occupational disease. The court held that substantial medical evidence supported the Board's determination despite conflicting medical testimony. It also upheld a penalty imposed on the employer's carrier for unilaterally initiating a third deposition of the claimant's treating physician while an administrative appeal was pending.

Holdings

1. The Board's determination that claimant sustained an occupational disease was supported by substantial evidence and would not be disturbed.
2. The Board properly determined that a penalty was warranted because the carrier unilaterally subpoenaed the treating physician for a third deposition without a directive from the Workers' Compensation Law Judge while its administrative appeal was pending.

Questions Presented

1. Whether substantial evidence supported the Workers' Compensation Board's determination that claimant's bilateral hand, wrist, and knee conditions constituted an occupational disease causally related to his work as a brick mason.
2. Whether the Workers' Compensation Board properly imposed a penalty on the carrier for initiating a frivolous proceeding by unilaterally conducting a third medical deposition while an administrative appeal was pending.

Disposition

affirmed