The claimant applied to the LAT disputing 10 medical benefits. The claimant and her legal representative failed to attend two case conferences, and the legal representative subsequently removed himself from the record. The LAT issued a Notice of Dismissal to the claimant, and the parties were advised to make written submissions on the Tribunal’s intention to dismiss the claimant’s appeal without a hearing. The claimant failed to make submissions on the issue, and the insurer filed a formal Notice of Motion to have the matter dismissed. The Vice Chair issued an order dismissing the appeal as abandoned. Six months later, the claimant submitted a second LAT application with a new legal representative disputing 5 medical benefits, 4 of which were previously disputed in the first LAT application. At the case conference, the insurer raised a preliminary issue requesting to have the duplicate claims in the second LAT application barred as having already been dismissed. Adjudicator Msosa agreed, and found that the claimant was precluded from reopening an application on issues that were previously dismissed as abandoned by the LAT, as to do so would constitute an abuse of process.
