 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Employee Leasing Services in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Caparotti v. Shreveport Pirates Football Club8/23/2000
Application for rehearing may be filed within the delay allowed by Art. 2166, LSA-CCP.
In this workers' compensation matter, the claimant, Donald Caparotti, appeals a judgment awarding him supplemental earnings benefits (SEB) of $85.16 per week from August 1, 1997 through December 31, 1998, subject to a credit in favor of defendants for any previous payments. The workers' compensation judge (WCJ) found that the claimant's average weekly wage was $487.12, based on an annual salary of $25,330 with a current earning capacity of $18,687 per year. The defendants, Shreveport Pirates, Inc. and Louisiana Workers' Compensation Corporation (LWCC), answered the appeal alleging that the WCJ erred in overruling the exception of res judicata as to the average weekly wage and in awarding SEB. For the following reasons, we amend and affirm as amended.
FACTS
The claimant, Donald Caparotti, was employed as a professional football player for the 1994-95 season with the now defunct Shreveport Pirates of the Canadian Football League. The employment contract provided that the claimant would receive a base salary of $25,000 for the season. In September 1994, the claimant tore his right anterior cruciate ligament during a game. Claimant was treated by Dr. Goral. The parties agree that the claimant is unable to return to work as a professional football player.
Following the accident, the team's workers' compensation carrier, LWCC, began paying claimant weekly temporary total disability (TTD) benefits. While recovering from his injury, claimant moved back to his home in Maryland and decided to pursue a career as a personal physical fitness trainer. The claimant attended courses and obtained the required Maryland personal trainer license.
In July 1995, claimant began earning income as a personal fitness trainer. The LWCC claims representative, Annette Robinson, instructed claimant to report his earnings on LDOL Form 1020. The LWCC discontinued benefits from February 1996 to May 1996. Subsequently, the claimant filed his first disputed claim for benefits with the Office of Workers' Compensation. Prior to the hearing, the parties agreed that claimant was entitled to the maximum compensation rate of $323 per week. The LWCC agreed to pay the past due benefits with penalties and attorney fees. The claimant signed a "Receipt and Release" and the WCJ signed an order of dismissal, reserving the claimant's right to seek SEB and LWCC's right to seek a reduction in benefits.
LWCC hired Jamie Schenker, a vocational rehabilitation consultant from Maryland, to evaluate claimant's employment potential. Schenker met once with the claimant, who has a college degree in education and lives in Damascus, Maryland. Schenker performed a labor market survey to locate suitable jobs available to claimant and in September 1996 sent him notice of four positions, two of which were located in Washington, D.C. and two in Maryland. In June 1997, Schenker began sending additional job openings to the claimant for various positions, including fitness trainer, insurance claims representative and clerk at the National Archives. The claimant submitted applications for these positions but did not receive any job offers.
LWCC discontinued claimant's TTD benefits and began paying SEB based upon claimant's reported zero net monthly income on Form 1020. In August 1997, after receiving Schenker's labor market survey, LWCC reduced the SEB payments in reliance on information of a position at Geico Insurance Company located in Fredericksburg, VA, with an annual salary of approximately $16,900. During the period from August 1997 through December 1998, LWCC paid total benefits of $5,628 in several
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 Louisiana Employee Leasing Services
Employee Leasing Services
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Employee Leasing Services in your area.
|
|