This decision was released by the 3rd Dept. on Thursday 4.10.25:
We see this situation happen from time to time. A First Report of Injury (FROI) is initially filed – “Lost Time with No Paid Indemnity” and the Agreement to Compensate as “L – With Liability.” Later, the Carrier decides to controvert, and files a SROI-04. (A SROI-04 is “Subsequent Report of Injury” with a denial).
Here, when the case was set for a hearing, the claimant raised that the Carrier was precluded based on failure to timely file a FROI-04 pursuant to WCL § 25(2)(b). Note that there was never a Notice of Indexing (probably because the claim was initially accepted and administratively, no Notice of Indexing was triggered.) The Notice of Indexing activates the time to file a FROI-04.
The Law Judge at the hearing agreed with Claimant and found that the FROI-04 denial was late and precluded all defenses. The Board Panel reversed, finding that since a Notice of Indexing was not issued, that the FROI-04 was not untimely. However, the 3rd Dept. remanded the case for the Board to review whether the first FROI filing, which ostensibly accepted the claim, becomes a waiver of the right to controvert. What I expect will happen is that the Carrier will have to show that there was additional evidence that was revealed after the FROI filing questioning the compensability of the accident.
Read the decision here.
[View source.]
