Publications
January 30, 2018 Article

WC Appellate Division Holds Final Judgment Principles Do Not Bar Claim Based on an Unresolved Record of Mediation

Maine Workers' Comp Alert

In Karimova v. Nordx, WCB App. Div. No. 18-01 (January 16, 2018), the Appellate Division addressed the employer/insurer’s argument that because a September 11, 2006, injury was not included in a Record of Mediation, where other dates of injury were mediated, final judgment principles foreclosed the employee from thereafter asserting a claim for that injury. Unlike mediation agreements—which serve as the equivalent of final adjudications—records of unresolved mediations that merely recite issues in dispute do not have the same effect as judicial decrees. Therefore, the Appellate Division affirmed and found the administrative law judge correctly determined that the employee’s claim relative to the 2006 injury was not barred by final judgment principles.