The Process After a Workers’ Comp Claim is Denied in Pennsylvania
Your Lawyer Will File Claim Petition
The petition must be filed within 3 years of injury or claim is forever barred. An Answer must be filed within 20 days or a Yellow Freight Motion may be asserted.
What is a Yellow Freight Motion?
A Yellow Freight Motion is when the Claimant’s lawyer asserts that the Answer to the Claim Petition wasn’t filed in a timely manner which means the factual allegations in the Claim Petition should be admitted as facts in the case. The Answer to a Claim Petition is due no later than 20 days from the Assignment to a Workers’ Compensation Judge. If the Judge finds that there is a lack of good cause for the late Answer, the facts in the Claim Petition will be deemed admitted. These facts can lead the Workers’ Compensation Judge to then make conclusions of law. It’s the Claimant’s burden to prove all elements of the case, but a late Answer can make this much easier.
Assignment Notice Arrives
This notice tells the parties who the Judge in the case will be.
Hearing Notice Arrives
This notice notifies the parties when the first hearing is. The injured worker may or may not need to attend depending on the Judge. Many initial hearings are just “pre-trials” for the attorneys.
Litigation Takes Place
The parties have 180 days in most cases to secure evidence- 90 days for each party- and there may be 1 to 3 more hearings depending on the case and Judge. Parties will likely attend Mediation – either Mandatory or Voluntary, we try to settle case.
Briefing Period
If the case doesn’t settle, the lawyers write their briefs/written arguments to the Judge, outlining the applicable law, facts, and why or why they didn’t meet the burdens of proof. The Judges will often grant the lawyers between 30 and 60 days from the close of the record, to submit their Briefs.
A Decision is Rendered
This usually occurs about 45 days or so after the last Brief is submitted, a written Decision will arrive. Note that it can take longer that this, and 45 days is just an average.
Appeals
Any party can appeal to the Appeal Board within 20 days, then an appeal can be taken to the Commonwealth Court or PA Supreme Court if a party doesn’t agree with the Commonwealth Court. Not every appeal will be heard by PA Supreme Court.
