Name

Voisine v. State of Maine, Department of Transportation

Insurance Company

Date Decided

February 2, 2017

Panel Members

Glen Goodnough

Tom Pelletier

Mike Stovall

Categories

Board IME

Tags

Mental Injury Work-Related Stress IME§312

File Size

171 KB

Download

Summary from the Troubh Heisler Attorneys

Voisine claimed a mental injury from work-stress at the Department of Transportation. Dr. Jeffrey Barkin performed a §312 psychological IME and found his stress to be work-related. The Department argued that there was "clear and convincing evidence to the contrary," but Administrative Law Judge Elwin disagreed and ordered payment of benefits accordingly.

The Department appealed her decision, but the Appellate Division panel affirmed it. The panel repeated its heightened standard of review in such cases: an ALJ’s decision based on a §312 IME cannot be reversed on appeal unless the ALJ’s findings are not supported by "any competent evidence" or the record discloses "no reasonable basis" to support the decision. Given this standard, the cases more likely to succeed on appeal are those in which IME doctor relies on facts that are not credible or even in the record.

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