“Filling the Gaps” Did Not Accelerate the Statute of Limitations

In a novel decision the NJ Appellate Division decided the custom the workers’ compensation insurance company of “filling the gaps” between periods of temporary disability with permanent disability payments was an unauthorized acceleration and did not step up the final date of payments for purposes of the statue of limitations. The petitioner was permitted to file an application to review and modify his former award for increased benefits two years from the payment of benefits that would have been paid had they not been accelerated by the insurance carrier. Pollock v. Tri State Motor Transit, Inc. , No. A-6224-06T1, NJ App. Div. Decided August 15, 2008.

http://www.judiciary.state.nj.us/opinions/a6224-06.pdf