Respondents' Exhibit 3. A stipulation in a workers' compensation case falls under the general penumbra of 31-296 voluntary agreements. It is a compromise and release type of agreement, similar to a settlement in a personal injury case, where a claim is settled with a lump sum payment accompanied by a release of the adverse party from further liability. Once approved, the stipulation has the force of an award. Although the facts recited in the stipulation necessarily bind the contracting parties with respect to that action, they are not facts found by a trial commissioner, and do not carry the same weight in a related proceeding involving parties that were not signatories to the agreement.
Judicial admissions are tantamount to unequivocal concessions of fact.
In this case, the stipulation was evidence, nothing more, and the trier was entitled to weigh it in the same fashion he would weigh the credibility of the testimony and medical reports introduced by the parties. 14 Conn. Workers' Comp. It follows that the trial commissioner correctly allowed the claimant to introduce medical reports that diagnosed her with a greater percentage of impairment. Similarly, we cannot draw our own conclusions as to the veracity of the claimant herself. Jusiewicz , supra.