Reid v. Speer

Citations

• 209 Conn. App. 540

Syllabus

The defendant employer appealed to this court from the decision of the Compensation Review Board, which affirmed the decision of the Work- ers' Compensation Commissioner finding that the plaintiff was employed by the defendant within the meaning of the Workers' Compensation Act (act) (§ 31-275 et seq.) and granting the plaintiff's motion to preclude the defendant from contesting the compensability of his injury pursuant to statute (§ 31-294c (b)). The defendant received the plaintiff's notice of claim for compensation but failed to file a form 43 within twenty- eight days contesting liability for the plaintiff's injury. On appeal, the defendant claimed, inter alia, that filing a form 43 would have violated the applicable statute (§ 31-290c), as she had knowledge that the plain- tiff's claim for compensation was fraudulent. Held that the defendant could not prevail on her challenges to the fact-finding and credibility determinations made by the commissioner: evidence in the record sup- ported the commissioner's express findings that the alleged injury suf- fered by the plaintiff, if proven, would constitute a compensable injury under the act and that, at the time of the alleged injury, the plaintiff was an employee of the defendant; moreover, the defendant could not prevail on her claim that her filing of a form 43 would have constituted criminal conduct, as she provided no legal support for the claim, and the purpose of filing the form, to contest the defendant's liability for the plaintiff's injury, would not fall within the language of § 31-290c that criminalizes conduct by a claimant for benefits under the act. Submitted on briefs November 10, 2021—officially released December 28, 2021