RANDOM RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

Met with a nice older man today who got screwed for exercising his rights. He got hurt at work and told his supervisor about it. Not surprisingly, the supervisor ignores it. The client keeps after him and keeps getting ignored. Ultimately, client has to hire a lawyer who files a comp claim for him. A week after he files his comp claim, guess what? They fire him. Call it an "economic slowdown". But the client swears he had been busy as all get out for the previous two years. The clear inference is that the employer didn't like the fact my client filed a comp claim, so they decide they'll show him - so they fire him and make up a story to cover their asses. Seeing more and more of these cases, where employers treat their workers like crap and expect to get away with it.

In addition, was just retained in a personal injury case against a local transportation company. My client, a charming 68 year old man with some health problems was being transported for medical treatment when the company basically dropped him onto the ground. They didn't properly secure him before they began the transfer from the ground into the bus. My client suffered a badly broken arm and hip injuries. The really bad thing though, is that the client now can't get around at all. He was ambulatory before the fall and occasionally used a walker for longer distances. Well, with the broken arm, he can't get around at all because he can no longer use his arm on the walker. He is now basically bed bound. They defendants seem to have taken away the limited mobility he had. I just finished the complaint and will request the case be advanced due to my client's age and complicated medical picture.

Finally, had an interesting development in a depo the other day. The deponent was a local doctor who was acting as an "independent medical examiner" for the employer in a Worker's comp claim. These guys are hired by insurance companies/employers to offer opinions about work injuries. He saw my client one time and to no one's surprise, opined with great certainty that the injury was NOT work-related, but due to a pre-existing injury or some sort. Of course there is absolutely no evidence of pre-existing accident or trauma which would have caused the injury, but that didn't bother the good doctor. He just knows that there has to be a cause other than the work injury. And he reached that opinion even though the patient's treating surgeon has already the injury happened at work. But that wasn't the best part. The witness acknowledged, with some discomfort, that he did a fair amount of medical/legal consulting(i.e. offering opinions for employers that the injuries employees have didn't arise at work). And he also begrudgingly acknowledged that most of the time(80% of the time to be precise) he testified for the defense, be it an employer or insurance company. And he also acknowledged that roughly 10% of his income came from his "consulting" work. But he refused to testify just how much money that 10% translated into. Said it wasn't "relevant". I couldn't have asked for a better answer. Hell, I really don't care what the number is now. I much prefer to inform the judge that the doctor won't divulge it. Gosh, I wonder why? Maybe because it is A WHOLE LOT OF MONEY? And he won't seem so "independent" if those numbers were released? Just a thought. Thanks doc.