Decision  James Griffin v. Val Painting Co.

Date:	01/25/2016
Organization:	Department of Industrial Accidents
Docket Number:	DIA Board No's. 037293-11, 034762-13
Location:	Boston
Referenced Sources:	Gary Bolduc v. New England Coffe Co.

• Employee: James Griffin
• Employer: Pal Painting Co. and Jerry Enos Painting Co,
• Insurer: Travelers Insurance Company (Pal), Star Insurance Company (Enos)

HORAN, J. Travelers Insurance Company (Travelers), the first insurer in this two insurer case, appeals from a decision awarding the employee a closed period of § 34 benefits, and ongoing § 35 benefits.¹ Travelers avers the judge misapplied the successive insurer rule,² and erred by not finding Star Insurance Company (Star), the second insurer, liable for the employee’s latest period of incapacity and medical treatment. We affirm the decision.

 

¹ The judge also awarded the employee § 13 medical benefits, including left knee surgery, and an attorney’s fee pursuant to § 13A.

² The rule dates back to Evans’s Case, 299 Mass. 435, 437 (1938), and provides that, "[w]here there have been several compensable injuries, received during the successive periods of coverage of different insurers, the subsequent incapacity must be compensated by . . . the insurer at the time of the most recent injury that bore causal relation to the incapacity." For a more recent discussion of the rule, see Bolduc’s Case, 84 Mass. App. Ct. 583, 585-586 (2013).