Published Decisions
Employee in a machine shop has a clear and undisputed workplace neck injury. He needs neck surgery, and returns to his normal duties after a period of rehabilitation and therapy. However, two years later he has a serious re-occurrence of his neck symptoms. Unfortunately, the business had changed ownership and now had a different Workers Compensation insurance carrier. The new insurance company refused to cover him, claiming it was an old problem. The insurance carrier which had covered the earlier operation also refused, claiming it was a new injury . We were able to resolve these issues after getting our client in front of a Workers Compensation judge. He was compensated for medical costs, lost wages, and future lost income.
Court Decision
Our client was severely injured when struck from behind during rush-hour traffic on an interstate highway. The other driver who caused the accident had only a small amount of insurance coverage available. However, the owner from whom she borrowed the car was covered by an “Umbrella” insurance policy with far greater coverage limits. The company which had issued the “Umbrella” policy denied that our client was eligible for benefits from it.
Consequently, we were forced to file a lawsuit in order to obtain a judge’s ruling that the “Umbrella” coverage policy was available to pay for our client’s medical and lost earnings. We also obtained workers compensation benefits for our client.
Court Decision
We successfully defended the sellers of an older home in the Lake Country, after they became entangled in a questionable lawsuit, years after the sale, over potential basement and foundation issues about which the purchasers were well aware (using those potential problems to negotiate better terms of sale) before buying the property.
Article
Court Decision
We successfully represented a young woman who got a new car for her high school graduation, but then was persuaded by a car dealership sales manager to trade the new car in on a decade-old sports car with many hidden and scary defects. We arranged to have her money refunded to her.
Decision
We obtained workers compensation benefits (an award of benefits for lost future earnings) to a concrete/masonry worker who injured his back in a fall from a scaffold. His employer and its insurer had claimed he forfeited benefits by refusing an offer to return to work. We proved the “offer” was not genuine, and that the employer had no real intent to bring him back to work (leaving him to find other work on his own). The employer and insurance carrier appealed from the judge’s decision (favorable to our client) but they again lost on appeal.
Decision
Our client suffered an arm injury in a fall at a construction site. Unable to return to many of the tasks he previously performed as a carpenter, he sought Workers Compensation benefits to help him attend school to obtain computer skills. The employer and insurance carrier refused, saying they would simply return him to carpentry work. We obtained a judge’s order to compel the workers compensation insurance carrier to pay school tuition and wage benefits while our client attended technical college.
Much as we helped these clients, we’re here to help you, too in dealing with any traumatic or life-changing event.