Claim of Potter v. Springbrook Apartments, Inc.

—Lahtinen, J.

On July 7, 1999, claimant, a building maintenance employee, was operating a floor buffing machine at the apartment complex where he worked when a tenant stepped on the power cord. According to claimant, this caused the machine to stop and kick back toward him, striking him in the ribs. The employer filed a C-2 report of injury on claimant’s behalf and a hearing was subsequently conducted before a Workers’ Compensation Law Judge (hereinafter WCLJ). At the hearing, the WCLJ denied a request by the employer’s workers’ compensation carrier to take the testimony of, among others,…