Wilkins Patterson Smith Pumphrey & Stephenson received a favorable ruling from the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission reversing a previous order in which compensability was found, which resulted in the dismissal of the claim.
In Rankin v. Averitt Express, the Administrative Judge previously granted disability benefits to the claimant finding that the claimant’s alleged work-related accidents were the cause of his current medical complaints and disability. However, Wilkins Patterson attorneys challenged the claimant’s assertion that he sustained a work related injury, and further argued that, even if a work related accident was found to have occurred, there was no medical causation established that would link the claimant’s current medical condition to any such accidents.
The Commission found that the claimant’s uncorroborated testimony regarding the alleged work-related injury was inconsistent with the evidence as a whole, and, as such, that the Claimant had not met his burden of proof in establishing a compensable injury. Further, the Commission found that claimant failed to establish causation by any medical expert and, therefore, failed to meet his burden of proof to establish that his injury was causally connected to the alleged work related injury.