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JULIO FLAMENCO v. INDEPENDENT REFUSE SERVICE, INC., ET AL. (AC 32881)
Gruendel, Espinosa and Lavery, Js Argued May 19--officially released July 19, 2011

(Appeal from workers' compensation review board.) Alan Scott Pickel, for the appellant (plaintiff).

Opinion

GRUENDEL, J. The plaintiff, Julio Flamenco, appeals from the decision of the workers' compensation review board (board), which dismissed his petition for review of the decision of the workers' compensation commissioner for the seventh district (commissioner) imposing a sanction of $100 following his counsel's late appearance at an informal hearing. The plaintiff contends that the commissioner improperly imposed the sanction in violation of his right to fundamental fairness in administrative proceedings. We reverse the decision of the board. The undisputed facts, gleaned from the record before us, are as follows. The plaintiff sustained an injury on December 17, 2007, and thereafter instituted a claim for workers' compensation benefits against the defendant Independent Refuse Service, Inc.1 An informal hearing before the commissioner was scheduled for 9 o'clock in the morning of September 28, 2010. The plaintiff's counsel, attorney Alan Scott Pickel, arrived for that hearing at 9:55 a.m. Without conducting an evidentiary hearing or affording Pickel an opportunity to be heard, the commissioner on that date imposed a sanction, pursuant to General Statutes

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