Mendoza v. Talarico Building Services, Inc.

CourtSuperior Court of Delaware
DecidedMarch 30, 2023
DocketN22A-05-003 VLM
StatusPublished

This text of Mendoza v. Talarico Building Services, Inc. (Mendoza v. Talarico Building Services, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Delaware primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mendoza v. Talarico Building Services, Inc., (Del. Ct. App. 2023).

Opinion

IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE

SANTIAGO MENDOZA, ) ) Claimant-Appellant, ) v. ) ) C.A. No. N22A-05-003 VLM TALARICO BUILDING SERVICES, ) INC., d/b/a SERVICE MASTER ) CLEANING, ) ) Employer-Appellee.

ORDER

Submitted: December 6, 2022 Decided: March 30, 2023

Upon Consideration of Appellant’s Appeal of the Decision of the Industrial Accident Board, AFFIRMED.

William R. Stewart, III, Esquire, Gary S. Nitsche, Esquire Nitsche & Fredericks, LLC, Wilmington, DE. Attorneys for Appellant.

Maria Paris Newill, Esquire, Heckler & Frabizzio, Wilmington, DE. Attorney for Appellee.

MEDINILLA, J. INTRODUCTION

Appellant Santiago Mendoza (“Claimant”) appeals a decision of the Industrial

Accident Board (“Board”) that denied his Petition to Determine Additional

Compensation Due and granted Employer’s Termination Petition to set aside the

parties’ original agreement for workers’ compensation benefits under Rule 60(b)1

upon a finding that he engaged in fraud in pursuit of said benefits. Upon

consideration of the arguments, submissions of the parties, and the record in this

case, the Board’s decision is AFFIRMED.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY2

1. Claimant is a non-English speaking individual,3 who has lived in the

United States for almost thirty years. 4 Over twenty years ago, in 2001, he was

involved in a work accident in New York, where a 60-pound boulder struck him on

the head, causing him to lose consciousness.5 As a result of that accident, Claimant

did not work and instead received compensation for total disability from 2001 until

1 Del. Super. Ct. Civ. R. 60(b). 2 The recitation of the facts is based upon the submission of the parties, including the transcript from the Industrial Accident Board’s hearing on March 25, 2022. 3 At all relevant times, Claimant testified with the assistance of a court-certified interpreter and was represented by counsel. 4 Industrial Accident Board’s Hearing Transcript, IAB No. 1476099, at 17 (Del. I.A.B. Mar. 25, 2022) [hereinafter IAB Tr.]. 5 Id., at 18. 2 2007.6

2. From 2007 through 2015, Claimant did not work. 7 In 2016, he

requested his primary care physician issue him a total disability slip, and Claimant

reported his occupation as “disabled” on paperwork completed for St. Francis

Hospital.8 Claimant also acknowledged to the Board that he receives ongoing social

security benefits.9

3. In 2017, Talarico Building Services, Inc., d/b/a Service Master

Cleaning (“Employer”) hired Claimant as a floor technician helper, which required

repeated bending, twisting, and lifting. 10 Claimant did not report any physical

restrictions or disabilities in his application for employment.11

4. On July 16, 2018, Claimant suffered a slip-and-fall while cleaning and

buffing floors, where he bent down to plug in a piece of machinery when he slipped

and fell, landing on his buttocks.12 Claimant’s boss witnessed the fall and helped

him up to continue working, and, within twenty minutes of the fall, Claimant

complained of experiencing blurry vision, dizziness, nausea, and pain in both his

6 Industrial Accident Board’s Decision, IAB No. 1476099, at 4 (Del. I.A.B. Apr. 1, 2022) [hereinafter IAB Decision]. 7 Claimant represented in discovery that he was not working from 2007 to 2015 but later testified at the IAB hearing that he worked during this period occasionally for cash. IAB Tr., at 26–28. 8 IAB Decision, at 5. 9 Id., at 6. 10 IAB Tr., at 61. 11 Id., at 62. 12 IAB Decision, at 3. 3 back and neck.13 Employer acknowledged a compensable soft-tissue injury to his

neck and back, 14 and paid worker’s compensation benefits, including medical

expenses.15

5. One month after his fall, in August of 2018, Claimant was involved in

a motor vehicle accident, which required ambulance transport for medical

treatment.16 The chief complaint made by Claimant at that time was “neck pain.”17

Diagnostic testing, including a cervical CT scan, was performed, showing foraminal

stenotic changes at C5–6 and C6–7 (degenerative in nature).18

6. Three years after his fall, on October 11, 2021, Claimant underwent a

three-level cervical fusion performed by Dr. James Zaslavsky, a board-certified

orthopedic surgeon.19 Claimant filed a Petition for Additional Compensation Due

seeking to have the Board determine that the surgery was reasonable, necessary, and

causally related to the July 2018 work accident, and for the payment of compensation

for the period of recovery from the surgery.20

7. In August 2021, Employer opposed Claimant’s Petition and sought a

13 IAB Decision, at 3. 14 Id., at 2. 15 Id. 16 Dr. Gelman’s Dep., at 51. 17 Id. 18 Id., at 51–53. 19 IAB Decision, at 2. 20 Id. 4 determination that the surgery was unrelated to the July 2018 injury.21 Employer

further filed a Petition for Review, seeking to have the Board review and set aside

the parties’ original agreement as to the compensability of Claimant’s injuries based

on assertions of fraud, and to bar Claimant from future filings against Employer.22

8. On March 25, 2022, the Board held a hearing on both Petitions. The

Board heard live testimony from Claimant and deposition testimony from his expert,

James Zaslavsky, D.O.23 Employer presented live testimony from an investigator, a

Human Resources Administrator, and a Senior Claims Specialist Adjuster, as well

as deposition testimony from its medical expert, Dr. Andrew Gelman, D.O., also

board-certified.24

9. On April 1, 2022, the Board issued a 37-page decision.25 As to the

Claimant’s Petition for Additional Compensation Due, the Board denied the

compensability of the cervical surgery and determined that Claimant failed to meet

his burden of establishing the compensability of the cervical surgery.26 It accepted

Dr. Gelman’s opinion as “the more informed, factually accurate and persuasive than

that of Dr. Zaslavsky based largely on Claimant’s own failure to honestly disclose

21 IAB Decision, at 2. 22 Id. 23 IAB Tr., at 1–2. 24 Id. 25 See IAB Decision. 26 Id., at 33–34. 5 his extensive history of injury and treatment, and Dr. Zaslavsky’s inability to

accurately appreciate it from a record review alone. . . .” 27 The Board also

considered that Claimant had not reported the subsequent motor vehicle accident to

his treating surgeon, nor provided an accurate report of his own medical history.28

10. As to Employer’s Petition for Review, the Board found that the record

was sufficient to justify its intervention on the basis of fraud. 29 The Board

considered Employer’s two-fold request: that the Board re-open and strike the

agreement as to compensability and dismiss Claimant’s petition for additional

compensation as well as any future claims that Claimant may file with prejudice.30

Because there was no dispute that Claimant suffered a fall, as witnessed by another

individual, the Board declined to preclude future claims and noted that there was

limited testimony before it as to a separate issue of Claimant’s low back.31 Instead,

the Board determined that it was appropriate to strike the underlying agreement

accepting the compensability of a lumbar and cervical spine strain and sprain, but

allowed Claimant 60 days to file a new petition to attempt to establish

compensability as to any other issues he believed were compensable against

27 IAB Decision, at 33–34. 28 Id., at 11. 29 Id., at 34. 30 Id., at 36. 31 Id. 6 Employer. 32 The Board further credited Employer for all monies expended on

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