Wilcox v. Borough of Naugatuck
Wilcox v. Borough of Naugatuck
Opinion of the Court
The defendants are appealing a decision of the compensation review division of the workers’ compensation commission sustaining the granting, by the compensation commissioner of the plaintiff’s motion to preclude.
The plaintiff, Thomas Wilcox, was employed by the defendant borough of Naugatuck at the time he filed a claim for a compensable injury under the Workers’ Compensation Act. The defendant Connecticut Inter-local Risk Management Agency (CIRMA) was the borough’s compensation insurance carrier at that time.
Thereupon, the plaintiff filed a motion to preclude alleging that the disclaimer was insufficient as a matter of law because it failed to disclose specific substantive grounds adequately to apprise him of the reasons why the defendants were contesting his claim.
Following the receipt of the parties’ briefs, the commissioner granted the motion to preclude, thereby preventing the defendants from contesting the plaintiff’s claim for compensation.
The defendants appealed the commissioner’s decision to the compensation review division which, by opinion dated April 8, 1988, affirmed the decision of the commissioner. From this decision of the compensation review division, the defendants have taken this appeal.
The sole claim of error before us is whether the disclaimer filed by the defendants sufficiently complies with the requirements of General Statutes § 31-297 (b) to allow the defendants to defend on the merits of the plaintiff’s claim. We agree with the commissioner and the review division that the language employed in the defendants’ purported disclaimer is inadequate and falls to conform to the mandates of § 31-297 (b) as enunciated in Menzies v. Fisher, 165 Conn. 338, 341-48, 334 A.2d 452 (1973).
There is no error.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Thomas Wilcox v. Borough of Naugatuck
- Cited By
- 5 cases
- Status
- Published