Connecticut: Injured Worker’s Attorney’s Fee Reduced to $1

A Connecticut appellate court affirmed a decision by the state’s Workers’ Compensation Review Board that approved of a commissioner’s decision to reduce the attorney’s fee awarded to an injured worker’s attorney from $1,481 to $1. The commissioner initially determined that the employer unreasonably contested liability to pay TPD benefits and ordered the employer to pay the injured worker attorney’s fees in the amount of $1,481, pursuant to Conn. Gen. Stat. § 31–300. The issue might have ended at that point, but the worker filed a motion to correct the order, pointing out that he himself had failed to offer any proof of attorney resources expended on account of the defendants’ unreasonable contest of the temporary partial benefits. The commissioner found that the worker had not submitted any evidence as to the number of hours his attorneys spent on the case, the number of hours his attorneys claim to have been expended due to the fault or neglect of the respondent, or the proper hourly rate at which any such time should be compensated. The commissioner, therefore, “corrected” the order to allow only $1 in attorney’s fees. The appellate court observed that the commissioner had substantial discretion in these matters and that the record contained nothing that would support an award greater than the nominal amount. The court indicated that over a course of hearings occurring over a span of two years, the worker had an opportunity to support the request for fees and had not done so.

Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., the Feature National Columnist for the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter, is a leading commentator and expert on the law of workers’ compensation.

LexisNexis Online Subscribers: Citations below link to Lexis Advance. Bracketed citations link to lexis.com.

See Previti v. Monro Muffler Brake, Inc., 154 Conn. App. 679, 2015 Conn. App. LEXIS 1 (Jan. 13, 2015) [154 Conn. App. 679, 2015 Conn. App. LEXIS 1 (Jan. 13, 2015)]

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 133.03 [133.03]

Source: Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, the nation’s leading authority on workers’ compensation law.

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