| Date: | 03/16/2021 |
|---|---|
| Organization: | Department of Industrial Accidents |
| Docket Number: | DIA Board No. 014026-15 |
| Location: | Boston |
- Employee: David P. Pollard
- Employer: MBTA
- Self Insurer: MBTA
CALLIOTTE, J. The self-insurer appeals from a judge’s decision ordering it to pay the employee § 34A permanent and total incapacity benefits for injuries to the employee’s left shoulder and back, from June 16, 2018, to date and continuing. The self-insurer’s first arguments center on its contention that the employee failed to defeat the self-insurer’s § 1(7A) affirmative defense by proving the employee’s 2010 back injury was compensable or that the 2015 industrial accident remains a major cause of his disability or need for treatment. In addition, the self-insurer argues that the medical evidence does not support the judge’s finding of permanent and total incapacity. For the following reasons, we vacate the decision, insofar as it holds the employee successfully defeated the applicability of § 1(7A), and recommit the case for further findings on extent of incapacity based solely on the employee’s left shoulder injury.