Jury Trial for Large Self-Insured Nursing Home Company
A 45-year-old nurse's aid had injured her back at work. Her employer certified the claim for a lower back sprain and we successfully defended our client against her motion to the Industrial Commission that her claim be expanded to include both a degenerative disc and a psychological condition. The claimant filed a court appeal and demanded a jury trial. If successful, she likely would be found permanently and totally disabled, a condition that would give her lifetime benefits. Through exhaustive preparation of a slew of expert witnesses and effective cross-examination of the claimant's witnesses, our lawyers successfully convinced a jury, after a three-day trial during the week of Christmas, that her requests were meritless.
Catastrophic Claim Allowance for Group-Rated Financial Services Company
A young employee fell while at work in an office setting and suffered a broken neck, which required extensive treatment. His ensuing claim for workers' comp, if allowed, would result in our client's disqualification from a group rating program, costing the company thousands of dollars each year in premiums. Our attorneys thoroughly investigated the claim and determined that the employee's fall resulted from dehydration caused by binge drinking. We then developed the evidence to prove that he hit only the floor when he fell, making the claim non-compensable. The Industrial Commission agreed with our findings and the potentially disastrous claim was disallowed in its entirety.
Letter of Credit Appeal for Religious Institution
Our attorneys appealed an Ohio BWC requirement that our client provide a $7.3 million letter of credit (LOC) as a condition of self-insured status renewal. Through financial and legal reasoning, we convinced the BWC's Self-Insured Review Panel both that its assessment of the institution as "high-risk" and its understanding of our client's infrastructure were inaccurate. When properly understood, the Panel determined that no LOC was required.