WORKERS COMP – KRS 342.16(2)’s three factors for denial of claim, no causal connection between misrepresentation by employee and his injury: Baptist Hospital East v. Possanza (COA 8/7/2009)

Baptist Hospital East v. Possanza
2009-CA-000082 8/7/09 2009 WL 2424212

Opinion by Judge Lambert; Judges Caperton and Keller concurred.

The Court affirmed a decision of the Workers’ Compensation Board reinstating a worker’s claims for benefits. The Court held that the Board did not err in its interpretation and application of KRS 342.165(2) that all three factors must be present before compensation could be denied. Because the employer failed to show a causal connection between the workers’ claim for a neck injury and the misrepresentation related to a low back condition, the worker was improperly denied compensation.  The Court rejected the employer’s claim that the connection arose out of the fact that the worker would not have sustained the injury had he been honest about his physical condition at the time he took the job.