Nowicki v. Nowicki1/29/2003
ORDER DISMISSING APPEAL
In this workers' compensation case, Claimant Jacek Nowicki (Nowicki) appeals, pro se, the September 27, 2000 order of the Labor and Industrial Relations Appeals Board (the Board) that granted a February 14, 2000 motion filed by Employer-Appellee GMP Associates, Inc. (GMP) and Insurance Carrier-Appellee Travelers Insurance Company, in which motion GMP and Insurance Carrier-Appellee Pacific Insurance Company, Ltd. had joined. The February 14, 2000 motion asked the Board to strike Nowicki's January 27, 2000 request for reconsideration of the Board's December 28, 1999 decision and order that had affirmed the April 24, 1996 decision of the Director of Labor and Industrial Relations (the Director) on Nowicki's workers' compensation claims.
The Director rendered his April 24, 1996 decision upon the various workers' compensation claims Nowicki had filed, pursuant to Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS) ยง 386-3 (1993 & Supp. 2001), for personal injuries he allegedly sustained while working as a construction inspector for GMP on various projects, including a Kailua Wastewater Treatment Plant project and a Honolulu International Airport project. The Director determined that Nowicki had suffered temporary aggravation of his bronchitis and asthma conditions, arising out of and in the course of his employment, on August 26, 1992 and on April 15, 1993, and awarded him medical and rehabilitative benefits for those injuries. The Director awarded Nowicki benefits for temporary total disability resulting from the April 15, 1993 injury , for various periods during the period July 11, 1993 through May 27, 1994. No permanent disability benefits were awarded for the April 15, 1993 injury. The Director denied disability benefits for the August 26, 1992 injury. The Director denied Nowicki's claims that he had sustained work-related injuries on February 15, 1994, July 20, 1994, and June 8, 1995.
Nowicki appealed the Director's decision to the Board on May 2, 1996. After a hearing held over the course of three days, the Board affirmed the Director's decision.
In its December 28, 1999 decision and order, the Board found, in part, as follows:
3. [Nowicki] filed claims for work injuries occurring on August 26, 1992 and April 15, 1993. [Nowicki] alleged in his WC-5 claim forms that he developed respiratory symptoms and illnesses such as bronchitis and asthma as a result of exposures to chemicals at [the Kailua Wastewater Treatment Plant] for the past three years. The symptoms that [Nowicki] had alleged were related to his work exposures included coughing, breathing difficulties, weakness, diarrhea, lung or chest pain, nausea, and hypersensitivity to odors such as cigarette smoke.
4. [Nowicki] appeared pro se for most of the appeal. [Nowicki] was initially represented by counsel at the initial conference held on July 11, 1996. At that conference, [Nowicki's] counsel indicated that the nature of the claimed injury for which [Nowicki] is seeking compensation is the condition of multiple chemical sensitivity ("MCS"). By February of 1997, [Nowicki's] counsel withdrew and [Nowicki] proceeded pro se.
6. Since the filing of his injury claims, [Nowicki] has complained to numerous physicians of many additional symptoms or medical conditions that were not previously identified in the WC-5 claim forms. These symptoms included throat pain, peripheral neuropathy in the legs, shoulder pain, buckling of the knees, diarrhea, stomach pain, rash, acne, liver disease, profuse sweating, photosensitivity, teary eyes, eye pain, blurred vision, food intolerance, bleeding gums, and mouth ulcers.
We discern from our review of [Nowicki's] post-he
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