Joe Miller recently negotiated a substantial, six-figure settlement for a construction supervisor who fell off of a roof and lost consciousness. He suffered numerous other injuries which required surgical repair and fixation.<\/p>\n
The worker\u2019s compensation insurance company denied the claim, utilizing the willful misconduct defense<\/a>, surmising that Joe Miller\u2019s client must have been too close to the edge of the roof while performing his work, in violation of OSHA regulations and Company safety rules.<\/p>\n The problem that the defendants had was that the claimant could not recall precisely what had occurred, or how he had even ended up in the area where he had fallen from the roof. In addition, the one potential witness to the incident was no longer available.<\/p>\n Accordingly, insurance company had a difficult problem. In order to block a claim because of a violation of a statute or safety rule, it must be proven that the claimant intentionally<\/strong> violated the statute or rule. Unlike personal injury cases<\/a>, mere negligence of an employee in performing his duties, even if the negligence is severe, does not bar a workers comp claim. Without a witness to say that the claimant clearly knew he was violating a safety rule and statute at the time of his injury, or that he otherwise intentionally ignored safety regulations, this would be difficult.<\/p>\n These potential problems were brought to the attention of the defense attorney prior to hearing. Approximately two weeks prior to hearing, Joe Miller engaged in negotiations with the defense attorney, which resulted in settlement of the claim for a significant six-figure sum, and in addition an agreement for full payment of all past medical bills related to the claim.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Joe Miller recently negotiated a substantial, six-figure settlement for a construction supervisor who fell off of a roof and lost consciousness. He suffered numerous other injuries which required surgical repair and fixation. The worker\u2019s compensation insurance company denied the claim, utilizing the willful misconduct defense, surmising that Joe Miller\u2019s client must have been too close … <\/p>\n