The attorneys submitted written closing argument. The insurer requested Board review. The insurer requests that we remand this matter to the ALJ for a re-hearing to allow the ALJ to personally observe the witnesses, including claimant, and evaluate their credibility. For the following reasons, we grant the insurer's request. We may remand this matter to the ALJ for the taking of additional evidence if we determine that the record has been improperly, incompletely or otherwise insufficiently developed or heard.
Remand is appropriate on a showing of good cause or some other compelling basis.
Here, credibility is actually at issue. The insurer has specifically challenged claimant's credibility and the history upon which her doctors relied in rendering their opinions. In reaching this conclusion, we have considered Dr. Weller's statement that her opinion regarding the causation of claimant's condition was based on the history claimant provided to her. Dr. Weller acknowledged that if claimant's history was inaccurate, Dr. Weller's causation opinion would also be inaccurate. Dr. Weller relied on claimant's history that she had no right upper back or right shoulder symptoms prior to lifting lead blocks at work on September 14, 1994.