This case is interesting and was just decided by the Colorado Court of Appeals. The facts are that there were two Final Admissions filed by the insurer. A Final Admission requires action by a claimant within 30 days or it appears too late to object or seek relief from what the insurer has stated in the Final Admission. In my field this means we always act within the 30 days or the claimant may be in peril of being unable to disagree with a Final Admission if it was properly sent to the claimant. Here the insurer decided to issue a second Final Admission to correct a minor matter. The claimant missed the first deadline so the insurer argued as to that first Final Admission matters were closed. The Court however decided to indicate that when a second Final Admission is filed within those 30 days set by the first admission then the 30 days runs from the second Final Admission. By that result the claimant was timely. My view is more simplistic in viewing any Final Admission as starting the 30 day deadline regardless of how many are issued. My concern is about objecting to the first one and the insurer deciding to file two or three more with minor changes. Must a claimant object to each? I would but an unrepresented claimant may be fooled by such a tactic. Anyway below is the link to the case issued November 29, 2007. The case does point out how technical and deadline oriented workers comp can be.
Here is the case.
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