JCC Awards TPD and Treating Physician After Delivery-Driver Back Injury

Nelson Vasquez, a delivery driver for Ka Wah Trading, claimed he injured his low back on October 20, 2025 when a wet fifty-pound box of chicken broke as he lifted it from a refrigerated truck whose freezer had malfunctioned. The employer/carrier disputed compensability, timely notice, indemnity, medical care, and the claimant's attempt to raise his average weekly wage with overtime and fringe-benefit arguments.

Judge Neal P. Pitts credited Vasquez's testimony, found he timely reported the accident, and held that he sustained a compensable lumbar spine injury with radiculopathy. The order accepts Dr. Richard Smith's opinions over the carrier IME, awards authorization of a treating physician, and grants temporary partial disability benefits from October 21, 2025 through the date of hearing and continuing so long as due, together with penalties, interest, attorney's fees, and costs.

The order is a useful reminder that a notice defense can fail when the claimant's account is supported by prompt medical records and other corroborating facts, even if the employer denies receiving the report. At the same time, the JCC still denied compensability and payment for the AdventHealth ER visit and rejected any AWW increase for fringe benefits, showing that each requested medical bill and wage component still needs its own proof.

Source: Compensation Order