JCC Denies Benefits After Delivery Driver Fails to Prove Medical Causation

In Enrie Gray v. Sabra East Incorporated and Oyster Investments LLC, OJCC Case No. 24-003579TAH, Judge Thomas A. Hedler reviewed claims for compensability, an average weekly wage adjustment, temporary disability benefits, and fees after the claimant was shot at and crashed an employer-owned delivery vehicle on November 10, 2023.

The employer did not appear for mediation, show-cause proceedings, pretrial, or the final hearing, and its defenses were stricken. Judge Hedler nevertheless found the claimant still had to prove a compensable accident and the medical cause of any resulting injury. The order credited the crash report, vehicle photographs, and hospital visit enough to find an accident arose in the course and scope of employment.

The petition still failed because the claimant offered no admissible medical opinion evidence establishing major contributing cause, work restrictions, lack of MMI, or a basis for the claimed average weekly wage. The JCC therefore denied compensability, denied any AWW adjustment and temporary indemnity benefits, and rejected the requests for penalties, fees, costs, and unsupported past or future medical amounts.

Source: Compensation Order