Judge Needed Factual Source for Earning Capacity Figure

An administrative judge's determination of a claimant's earning capacity is flawed because the judge failed to explain how he arrived at that monetary conclusion, the Massachusetts Court of Appeals concluded.The appellate court vacated a judge's partial disability award and remanded for a new earning capacity determination, after concluding that the judge failed to explain how he determined the earning capacity figure of $975 per week. The court cited its June 2007 decision in Robert Dalbec's Case, where it held that "a monetary figure cannot emerge from thin air and survive ju...