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DETERMINING SCHEDULE LOSS OF USE BY COMPARING THE RANGE OF MOTION OF LIMBS ON THE INJURED SIDE TO THE RANGE OF MOTION OF CORRESPONDING LIMBS ON THE OTHER SIDE MAY NOT BE APPROPRIATE IF THE OTHER SIDE HAS ALSO SUFFERED INJURIES, WHETHER PERMANENT OR TEMPORARY, IN THE PAST (THIRD DEPT).

The Third Department, reversing the Workers’ Compensation Board, determined comparison of the ranges of motion of the injured limbs to the corresponding limbs on the other side of the body (contralateral members), which resulted in 0 % loss of schedule use (SLU), was a flawed approach. The Board concluded that such a comparison was not appropriate only if the injuries on the other side of the body are permanent, which was not demonstrated to be the case here. The Third Department disagreed and held that the comparison may also be inappropriate if the prior injuries on the other side of the body were temporary, The matter was remitted:

… [W]e agree that evidence of a permanent physical or functional impairment of the contralateral member due to traumatic injury or other condition that does not affect the subject member would render a comparison to the contralateral member when determining range of motion inappropriate. However, comparing contralateral members that have temporary physical or functional impairments, either due to work-related or nonwork-related injuries, would also be inappropriate as such comparisons could equally result in inequitable range of motion findings. In our view, the Board’s interpretation of section 1.3 (3) (b) of the guidelines to apply only to permanent physical or functional impairments is unreasonable and cannot be upheld … . Here, the Board rejected [the] findings that a comparison of the contralateral members was inappropriate due to a lack of evidence that the injuries that claimant suffered to those members in the 2014 work-related accident resulted in permanent impairments. Under these circumstances, we remit the matter to the Board so that a proper assessment regarding a comparison of contralateral members may occur … . Matter of Brooks v New York City Tr. Auth., 2025 NY Slip Op 00130, Third Dept 1-9-25

Practice Point: Consult this decision for insight into the problems raised by determining a loss of schedule use by comparing ranges of motion on both sides of the body. Comparison of the injured side to the other side may not be appropriate if the other side has been injured in the past.

 

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