Richards's Case

This case presents another variation of a frequently litigated issue: when can an employee whose claim for workers’ compensation benefits is contested by the insurer be deemed to have “prevailed” for the purpose of recovering attorney’s fees under G. L. c. 152, § 13A(5)?1 Here, the employee’s claim was ultimately denied and dismissed, after de nova evidentiary hearings before a Department of Industrial Accidents (DIA) administrative judge, on the ground that the employee had failed to prove he had actually sustained a corn*702pensable industrial injury as alleged (falling off a two-story roof and…