Friedlander Misler PLLC is pleased to announce that Washington, DC’s highest court has affirmed a workers’ compensation judgement in favor of firm clients, Georgetown University and Travelers Insurance Company, following an oral argument by Member Jonathan M. Marlin.
On June 15, the DC Court of Appeals affirmed a Compensation Review Board (CRB) decision that petitioner Christopher Honemond, a Georgetown University maintenance mechanic, was not entitled to modify a prior Order that concluded he had failed to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that he sustained causally related mental health injuries, and further that Honemond is not entitled to disability benefits. The litigation, ongoing since 2017, stemmed from a June 2016 work incident in which Honemond had descended into a manhole on the Georgetown University campus to turn off a steam valve.
The aforementioned decision by the DC Court of Appeals was based in large part on the principles of res judicata and collateral estoppel. The opinion will be published within Atlantic and Maryland Reporters.
“I applaud the Court for recognizing that the petitioner was attempting to use the Modification section of the workers’ compensation statute as a means of relitigating issues and claims previously decided, thereby recognizing the petitioner’s efforts to achieve an end-around the longstanding legal principles of res judicata and collateral estoppel,” Marlin said.
As a member of the firm’s Workers’ Compensation group, Marlin represents employers and insurers in DC and Maryland. He handles all aspects of a claim, from inception through the appeals process. Marlin has defended clients at hundreds of hearings before both the DC and Maryland workers’ compensation commissions. In addition, he has vast experience deposing medical experts and opposing parties as well as attending mediations and settlement conferences, avidly working to settle or otherwise resolve a client’s case.