Missouri Injury Law Blog

In a previous Missouri personal injury lawyer blog post I discussed the facts and circumstances of my Illinois workers compensation client who witnessed the traumatic death of a co-worker as the result of a fall from a water tower. As a result of witnessing this tragic death incident, which has turned into a million dollar Illinois wrongful death case and Illinois products liability action, my client suffered post traumatic stress.

This Illinois workers compensation case recently settled for $32,500.00 to compensate my Illinois personal injury and workers compensation client for the traumatic stress endured as a direct result of the work related injury.

Many Illinois personal injury lawyers may have never pursued the claim because there was no direct physical injury. In fact, my client's first Illinois personal injury lawyer did not pursue the claim and recommended a settlement to him of less than $10,000. I took over the case and through psychological testing and other important case work we were able to evidence the psychological injury and settlement the case for more than 3 times more what his first Illinois work comp lawyer recommended.

An Illinois or a Missouri work comp case or claim require one very simple element to have a claim in the first place, a work related injury. That injury can be physical or mental. Often times a mental injury is drastically more debilitating than a physical injury.

Posted by Benjamin J. Sansone | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Our Injury Cases , Verdicts & Settlements , Workers' Compensation

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Recently I settled an Illinois Workers Compensation case for $500,000, see Illinois Work Comp Death Case Settlement. Now that the Illinois worker's compensation case is resolved I am pursuing an Illinois products liability death lawsuit resulting from a improperly manufactured or designed cantilever that did not close and thus failed to prevent the worker from falling to his untimely death. A good Illinois personal injury lawyer must look beyond just the worker's compensation liability and investigate other potential defendants and theories of legal liability that allow the client to recovery beyond workers compensation, as the amount recoverable is limited by regulation.

When is there more to recover than just work comp? In the above case, the clients came to me because their first lawyer refused to pursue the products liability case and just wanted to represent them on the Illinois work comp case. The products liability case in this matter is what is known as a 3rd party claim. Generally, workers' compensation statutes and regulations prevent any other recovery by an injured worker or his family other than from work comp insurance through the work comp courts. Recovery is limited and regulated. However, when another party besides the employer is at fault there may exist a third party personal injury case. Many lawyers just want the work comp case and do not want to pursue the other parties, if you find yourself in this situation call me, because we always look into that possibility, and in the above case lead to an Illinois personal injury products liability wrongful death case. As in the above case, the original Illinois work comp attorney refused to take the products liability case, through investigation we have discovered that the cantilever is defective and thus the family has a claim worth potentially millions of dollars. Fortunately, they contacted me and we were able to explore these options and find a wrongful death products liability case.

What is a products liability case? A products liability case is simply as case wherein a defective product caused personal injury. In the above case, the cantilever malfunctioned or was improperly designed as it failed to close, allowing the lanyard to come unhooked from a water tower and allow the worker to fall, causing his unfortunate death. The specific cause of the malfunction I cannot get into at this point, however, as the picture to the right demonstrates, the cantilever fails to close and leaves over a one inch gap. Therefore, based on the facts and witness testimony regarding the fall it will show that had the clip closed all the way the lanyard would not have come unhooked and the worker would not have fallen from the top of the water tower and died. The defect is the libility, the circumstances leading to the fall are the causation, and the death is the damages, the three general requirements for a successful Missouri or Illinois personal injury lawsuit that an injury lawyer looks for.

Posted by Benjamin J. Sansone | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Our Injury Cases , Products Liability / Dangerous Products , Workers' Compensation

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A client of mine who has had various adventurous and dangerous jobs took a job working for an oil drilling company doing the heavy lifting and work with the drilling rig. Unfortunalty he was severely injured as a result of a 2-3 ton drill collar falling and crushing his foot and injuring his right leg. He is now looking at having his right foot amputated as a result of this work related accident and injury.

My client was hired in Illinois and is an Illinois resident, therefore, most likely Illinois worker's compensation law will apply to this case, despite the fact that the injury occurred outside of Illinois. This is important because Illinois has more favorable workers' compensation laws than most other states. So keeping his work comp case in Illinois is a high priority for me.

The lose of a limb, if only one limb, is what is referred to in Illinois work comp law as 'permanent partial disability" because the injured employee is not permanently disabled but only partially. If both feet, or both hands, were lost then it becomes a permanent total disability as the likelihood is that the employee will not be able to work again.

How is PPD (Permanent Partial Disability) defined in Illinois Work Comp Law:

PPD is:
a) The complete or partial loss of a part of the body; or
b) The complete or partial loss of use of a part of the body; or
c) The partial loss of use of the body as a whole.

“Loss of use” is not specifically defined in the law, but it generally means the employee is unable to do things he or she was able to do before the injury.

See Handbook on Illinois Worker's Compensation and Occupational Disease

The employee's benefit is calculated using the Illinois Work Comp disability chart indicating how many weeks of pay an injured employee gets for an injury.

If a body part is amputated or if it cannot be used at all, that represents a 100% loss, and the employee is awarded the entire number of weeks listed on the chart. If the employee sustains partial loss the benefit is calculated by multiplying the percentage of loss by the number of weeks listed.

HOW MUCH IS THE AMPUTATION WORTH:

Amputation or enucleation: 133 1/3% of Statewide Average Weekly Wage (SAWW). Currently the illinois SAWW is about $1,000. The minimum PPD benefit for amputation is 50% of the statewide average weekly wage (SAWW). The dispute comes in as to how much of a disability of the body as a whole, i.e. what percentage, should be attributed for the loss of a foot. That percentage is applied to 500 weeks, to get the number of weeks times the applicable weekly wage to get the amount.

Posted by Benjamin J. Sansone | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Our Injury Cases , Workers' Compensation

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While working for Phoenix Fabricators my client's late husband, Jason, was repairing weld lines on a water tower in Arkansas. He lost his footing and his lanyard and safety clip failed, allowing him to fall to a tragic and untimely death. The surviving spouse and children settled the Illinois workers compensation claim, and have a cause of action against the lanyard manufacturer through a wrongful death products liability lawsuit. The employer was found by OSHA to have violated several regulations including failure to have safety nets among several other serious violations. Unfortunately, in most cases and in this current case, worker's compensation is the sole remedy available to an employee against their employer for injuries sustained on the job. This does not prevent us from filing a lawsuit against any responsible or negligent 3rd party.

Generally, the location of the injury or death dictates the applicable law, so in this case, Arkansas work comp law presumptively applied. However, under Arkansas law this wrongful death case would be capped at about $200,000, an amount that is disgustingly inadequate for the death of a young man. However, Under Illinois worker's compensation law the wrongful death the cap is much higher, therefore, the work comp claim was filed in Illinois seeking work comp benefits pursuant to Illinois law. We argued that Illinois work comp law applied because the decedent was an Illinois resident and was hired over the phone while he was at his home in Illinois.

This allowed us to convince the worker's compensation insurer to agree that Illinois law may very well apply and lead to a favorable worker's compensation settlement of $500,000.00 present cash value. The decent was entitled to payments over a number of years which would have amounted to more than $1,000,000.00.

The 3rd Party Case: We are currently pursuing the manufacturer of the defective lanyard for a negligence and products liability/wrongful death case for the death of our client's husband. This will allow us to recover damages in excess of worker's compensation's limited remedies that are capped by regulation in favor of employers. This case against the lanyard manufacturer is a multi million dollar case to compensate my client and her family for the death of her husband and her children's father.

ILLINOIS WORKER'S COMPENSATION & WRONGFUL DEATH CASE - Initial Blog Entry

Posted by Benjamin J. Sansone | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Verdicts & Settlements , Products Liability / Dangerous Products , Workers' Compensation , Wrongful Death

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While on the job my client was injured as a pedestrian after he was crossing Delmar Blvd in St Louis, Missouri, near its intersection with Union. The light for eastbound traffic was red but there was a green arrow for eastbound traffic to turn North (left) at Union. As my client, a pedestrian, was crossing the road, about four car lengths from the crosswalk, a stopped driver waved him to walk by, as he stepped into the turn lane he looked left and the roadway was clear, as he was crossing a speeding car that was trying to beat the light struck him and fractured his left tibia (lower leg). The police responded to the car and pedestrian accident injury and the report was inconclusive as to fault.

Being that my client was on the job at the time of the car and pedestrian collision, this was immediately claimed through Missouri workers compensation and the employer's work comp insurer covered my client's medical expenses and lost wages. Additionally, we pursued a 3rd party claim, for personal injury sustained in St Louis Missouri, on behalf of our client against the negligent car driver for striking him as a pedestrian.

As a personal injury lawyer I have to recognize that often my client's cases have weaknesses, and this case was no exception. The weaknesses in this case included that he was crossing Delmar without using the cross walk. Additionally, he partially relied on an unknown driver waving him through traffic to rely that the roadway was clear. On the other hand, the other driver was speeding and claimed he was heading to church, however, in order to go to his church he would have had to head south on Union. This combined with several other inconsistencies that I highlighted in the driver's deposition testimony battered his credibility and helped secure a favorable personal injury settlement.

We were able to resolve the workers compensation case and the 3rd party liability case for about $90,000 combined. We were able to maximize client recovery by minimizing the workers compensation lien on the 3rd party liability case. The 3rd party liability case settled favorably about 30 days before trial.

Posted by Benjamin J. Sansone | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Our Injury Cases , Verdicts & Settlements , Workers' Compensation

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St Louis Missouri Work Comp case resulted when my client, Tim, who is a local contractor, was working on a residential roof in the St Louis area when the scaffold or roof rail failed, he fell two stories and landed flat on his back causing extensive personal injury. Unfortunately, this injury included several fractured vertebrae requiring multiple surgeries, physical therapy, pain medication, and regular medical treatment for the last two years. Sadly, Tim is not likely to ever recover and has a permanent total disability under Missouri's Worker's Compensation.

What does this mean to you if you are injured at work? Under Missouri law, work related injuries, regardless of the employer's fault (unless there is "Something More" see below) limits the employee to the exclusive remedy of Workers' Compensation insurance only. Meaning, the employee cannot sue the employer for negligence! Medical treatment is paid, TTD pay is made until the employee returns to work, then a lump sum is often paid based on the percentage of disability and the part of the body that the injury is to. This amount is almost always less than an average jury would award for like injuries.

In cases such as Tim's, he does not have a cause of action against the employer through the negligence of the other employee, despite the fact an employee failed to nail the scaffolding and caused its failure. Tim does not have a cause of action outside of work comp because their was only negligent failure to nail the scaffolding and no affirmative negligence. After his workers' compensation case is resolved he will likely be put on social security disability based on the severe nature and extent of his injuries.

Many lawyers to not pursue work related injuries to the fullest extent and fail to pursue the "something more" cases or the 3rd party liability. On example is a past client, Marla, she suffered a carpal tunnel type injury over the years as a result of her work duties. The doctor her worker's compensation insurer sent her to performed surgery to correct the problem, but the surgery was performed negligently, resulting in a cut nerve. Her first lawyer filed and tried to quickly settle her worker's compensation case and refused to pursue her medical malpractice claim. She came to me and we took over her case, got her an excellent settlement for her worker's compensation case (more than double the amount her first lawyer told her to take) and then pursued the medical malpractice case and got her a great settlement.

Continue reading "Missouri Workers Compensation Case - Construction Worker Suffered Broken Back and Fractured Vertebrae after Roof Scaffold Failed - Spinal Fusion - Pelvic Fibromyalgia - Permanent Disability" »

Posted by Benjamin J. Sansone | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Our Injury Cases , Workers' Compensation

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My new client who has been a nurse for over 20 years can no longer work due to her work related injuries. She slipped and fell at work outside the operating room and violently hit a concrete wall twisting her beck and injuring her neck and shoulder. She has undergone 3 surgeries to her back to fuse her lumbar spine and will likely never be able to work again.

Workers' Compensation cases in Missouri and most other states exist whenever an employee is injured at work and while in the course and scope of their job duties. The goal of workers comp is to give an injured worker financial relief due to a work related injury that prevents them from being able to perform their job.

In the case of this particular client, her back injury will prevent her from being able to work in the medical field ever again. This is referred to as a permanent and total disability. Due to the back injuries, standing for long periods of time and strenuous and stressful work are impossible for my client.

Many people have a negative attitudes to injured workers, considering them fakers or looking for an easy buck. My clients that have permanent disabilities that prevent them from working are often financially and emotionally devastated due to the inability to financially plan for their future and carry on their once normal lives. Even though we are able to get them generous compensation for their injuries, you cannot put a price on your basic physical abilities and well being.

Posted by Benjamin J. Sansone | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Our Injury Cases , Injury Law , Workers' Compensation

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A car accident occurred in Illinois as the result of a truck going approximately 60 MPH and ramming into the back of our client's, Donald's, vehicle that was sitting at a stop light. We are pursuing two claims on behalf of Donald, a personal injury claim against the at fault driver as a result of his negligence and an Illinois Workers' Compensation claim as Donald was driving a company vehicle at the time of the accident and was on duty for is employer.

Personal injury claims and Workers' Compensation claims vary in many ways. In Workers' Compensation claims the amount of money, or damages, Donald is entitled to is based on his injury translated into a disability rating which is then calculated by different factors depending on what part of the body is injuried and how much he earned per week at the time of the injury.

The personal injury claim is filed through the Illinois court system as a negligence case against the driver. The primary issues are liability and damages, or in other words, whose fault it is and how much money the victim should get as a result of that fault and the resultant injuries. These cases are ultimately decided by a jury, if a settlement is not reached, and damages are based on the jury's determination based on bills, economic damages, and pain and suffering, non economic damages. There is no magic formula for determining the damages but it is left to the jury.

When both types of cases are filed, the Workers' Compensation insurance company is entitled to a lien on the proceeds from the personal injury case. This lien is based on the fact that in workers' compensation claims liability is not an issue and medical bills are paid by the work comp insurer, entitling them to a lien to recover their expenses for paying the medical bills as the result of the 3rd party's negligence.

It is always worthwhile to pursue both the work comp case ans the negligence case when their is an a fault party that is not also employed by the same employer. Many clients worry about the lien, however, this can often be negotiated down to make sure the client receives a good recovery on both cases, and ultimatley a larger recover than if they pursued only one case.

Posted by Benjamin J. Sansone | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Our Injury Cases , Injury Law , Automobile Accidents , Workers' Compensation

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Workers' Compensation Claim for post traumatic stress disorder based on the fact that my client, Nathan, witnessed his brother, Jason, fall from a water tower to his death after a safety clip failed to close and failed to keep him attached to the structure after he slipped on ice and fell. Working just a few feet from him, his brother witnessed the entire event.

The alleged causes are the failure to have proper safety measures in place by the employer, as well as product liability based on defective safety equipment. The employer was cited by OSHA and fined almost $30,000. The employer, Phoenix Fabricators, is disputing the citations and that matter is ongoing.

There is also evidence that the caliper (pictured below) failed to close due to a defective design. This matter is currently under investigation by my firm. The picture above was taken from the position my client was when he slipped and fell to his death and from the vantage point my other client, Nathan, was when he witnessed the fall.

We have filed a Workers' Compensation claim on behalf of both brothers (the survisors for the deceased brother). Additionally, third party claims will be filed once the OSHA investigation report is released.

Posted by Benjamin J. Sansone | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Our Injury Cases , Injury Law , Workers' Compensation

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Recent wrongful death case that may be filed as either a Missouri or Illinois lawsuit is the result of a December 2006 fatal accident of our client's late husband when fell to his death when working on a water tower. The possible defective clip to his safety harness failed to close and secure him as debris from welding builds up in the closing mechanism. Allegedly, the employer, Phoenix Fabricators, failed to replace the safety equipment, additionally, the safety clip itself may have been poorly designed or malfunctioned.

Its a disturbing case to me especially considering his death could have been prevented by taking the required safety measures. OSHA has issued several citations to Phoenix Fabricators based on their continued failure to follow safety measures.

These tank workers have high risk jobs and they deserve the proper safety equipment. Below is a link to an article talking about the dangers of the job and the experiences of several workers for Phoenix Fabricators.

General Article about Water Tank Workers

Posted by Benjamin J. Sansone | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Our Injury Cases , Injury Law , Premises Liability , Workers' Compensation , Wrongful Death

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