JCC Grants ACL, Meniscus, and SmartWave Claims After Delayed Knee MRI

In Ferraro v. Angel's Home Care Agency, Inc./Normandy Insurance Company, OJCC Case No. 25-023281IF, the claimant slipped while helping a patient replace a shower curtain and landed on her right knee. The employer/carrier later accepted a right knee sprain/strain and temporary exacerbation, but disputed compensability of an ACL tear, a medial meniscus tear, and a prescribed SmartWave 3-in-1 eSTIM device.

Judge Iliana Forte credited the claimant's testimony that she had immediate knee pain and no prior right-knee problems. The order also relied on Dr. Robin Simon's uncontroverted testimony that the MRI findings, examination, and symptoms were consistent with medial meniscus and ACL tears caused by the industrial accident.

The JCC rejected the employer/carrier's timing argument, noting that the claimant was not first seen by an orthopedist until four months after the accident and did not receive the MRI until roughly two more months after compensability was accepted. That delay helped explain why the findings appeared chronic rather than acute.

The practical takeaway is that a limited initial acceptance of a sprain/strain did not prevent later proof that more serious knee conditions were compensable. Credible mechanism-of-injury testimony, objective MRI findings, and unrebutted treating-surgeon causation testimony carried the ACL, meniscus, SmartWave, fees, and costs claims.

Source: Compensation Order