The Lombardi Law Firm Blog

Is your injury while working covered under workers’ comp a third-party suit?

Workers who are injured while working may have more than a workers' compensation claim to consider. Those who say this is wrong to sue don't understand the law and what is required of those injured and receiving benefits under Iowa's Workers' Compensation statute. Iowa law allows the workers' compensation insurance company to recover benefits it pays to injured workers. The law gives the paying company a lien on third-party benefits and they can require the injured worker to sue the at-fault third party or else the workers compensation carrier can do the suing.

People who don't understand the law often times draw conclusions that aren't supported by the law. So if you're injured in a work related accident you simply need some good legal advice to know your rights. It's your choice, but the law may require you do something to protect yourself and if you don't those rights may ... for lack of a better term... run out.

Lighting Strikes and Kills Worker

Is the wife entitled to receive workers' compensation benefits?

Construction Site Deaths Bring Life-time Benefits to the Widow or Widower

Is this a work related injury?

If my husband is murdered at work can I collect Iowa workers' compensation?

What is a machine operator's pinch point?

Anderson Erickson Accident Claims Life of Long-Time Employee Manager

11 Iowa City Workers Treated for Anhydrous Ammonia Inhalation

Let's Look At The Top Ten OSHA Fines

From the Iowa No-Snooze-News Desk

Does fault matter in a workers' compensation case in Iowa?

Workers Compensation Injuries in Iowa

Is your workplace safe?

Train vs Semi-Truck, Leads to Workers' Compensation Claim

Wisconsin plant explosion may have been caused by static electricity

Oxford, Iowa I-80 Road Construction Crew Semi-Truck Collision

We don’t have much information this morning but it’s being reported by Radio Iowa and the Des Moines Register that a road construction crew on I-80 near Oxford, Iowa were injured with a semi-truck collided with one of the cement or concrete barriers in a construction zone. Oxford is about nine miles west of Coralville, Iowa.  The collision occurred late yesterday morning. You have to wonder if the semi-truck driver was texting or talking on a cell phone.

Worker Safety Never Takes a Holiday, Chock the Wheels

Chocking the wheels and setting the parking brake would probably have saved the life of this liquid asphalt truck driver. OSHA fined a trucking company $9,100 for failing to use precautionary measures that allowed a truck loaded with liquid asphalt to roll, crushing the worker between two trucks. The driver was 62-year-old Brian Cellar.

If married at the time or if he had dependent children they would be provided with workers’ compensation benefits in Iowa. What most people don’t appreciate is even if the worker is from another state they can sometimes get Iowa benefits if the accident occurred in Iowa or they normally live and work in Iowa but the accident happens in another state.

Chocking the wheels is a simple thing, setting the parking brake even simpler. Sometimes we forget the little things that make a big difference. There are no holidays from safety. Be smart and go back to the basics. Shortcuts may lead to a disaster. General IOSH or OSHA safety rules are covered under Chapter 10 in Iowa.

Construction site photographs of the utility pole may be necessary to prove the case or why it fell over when struck by the Bobcat

In what can only be described as a tragedy, a construction worker today was killed after a utility pole was knocked over striking and killing him. The utility pole was backed into by a fellow worker operating a Bobcat with a bucket on it. The worker that died was 32 years-old and his fellow worker was 57. The accident occurred at 10:15 a.m., just south of S.W. 26^th Street and Watrous Avenue in Des Moines. The younger man was pronounced dead at the hospital.

There are several interesting legal points to this story. First, the younger man leaves two young children behind. Hopefully this young man’s employer had workers’ compensation coverage that will pay these children benefits through college or at least through high school (age 18). It’s not unusual that smaller contractors don’t have coverage; that’s not legal, but lawyers see it often in the construction industry.

Second, the dependents of this young man would have a claim for the workers’ compensation benefits and also may have a claim against the owner of the pole. The Des Moines Register article includes a reference to a spokesperson from MidAmerican Energy Co who said the pole was not one of theirs and did not carry electrical lines. Mediacom said they commonly rent poles and Qwest hadn’t yet commented. So who owned that pole? This pole is interesting in that it was caused to fall down when the Bobcat backed into it; a scenario unlikely to normally happen. It should take a lot of pressure to cause a utility pole to fall down. Normally they snap. And that’s the rub, as I like to say, of this case investigation.  Why did it fall down so easily?

Which leads me to the third and final point; the case investigation to preserve valuable evidence. I remember driving towards Des Moines on Grand Avenue one day many years ago when I noticed a pole that had been struck by a car. The power company had a truck on location and was in the process of setting up to take the pole down and set it father away from the street. A client lived at that location so I pulled in to talk with him; he was standing on the sidewalk watching. Immediately I took out a camera and began taking photographs, which later were sent to the attorney representing the man whose legs were apparently pinned between the pole and a car bumper in the accident. Had I not taken photographs the pole would have been removed taking with it any chance of knowing what it looked like. It’s important to gather and preserve the key evidence in the case; in this case the pole. Someone needs to take photographs of the pole and the accident investigation site. Whoever is in charge of the dependent children needs to hire someone to get in there and photograph the location before the owner removes and destroys the pole. How that pole was seated in the ground may be a very important fact and pictures a sometimes worth a thousand words.

Owners don’t sit around waiting for injured people to complete their investigation. Owners need to get busy cleaning up the mess to make sure someone else isn’t injured or killed. Justice waits for no one.

So act, don’t sit around wondering. If you know Andrew Clark’s guardian tell them to get some legal advice and quickly; their future may depend upon it.  

Iowa Workers Compensation for Electrical Workers

Today, it's about three workers who get electrocuted from an overhead power line while doing work on a college campus with a boom truck. It reminded me of my family and the work I grew up listening to them discuss. My grandfather, father, brother and brother-in-law all worked, at one time or another, for the Narragansett Electric Company in Providence, Rhode Island. Narragansett Electric is now National Grid. The company mascot for Narragansett Electric was during my childhood, Mr. Reddy Kilowatt. Reddy was a guy whose head was a light bulb, he was always talking about safety. Injury by electrocution is a major concern for families that work around electricity. So we learned that Reddy was our friend. As a family we always worried about line work due in part to injury by electrocution. Today is about just that, workers getting electrocuted while working around energized power lines.

Reddy Kilowatt

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PznxZ3zmL00

You’ve got three workers for Midwest Glass and Glazing on the Creighton Campus Universityusing a boom truck when the boom comes into contact with an electrical line that was energized. Could this have been avoided?

Let’s start our quick analysis by saying the workers are all alive and expected to live. The news articles indicate only one was seriously injured and that’s terrific. For those who don’t know what happens when the human body is electrocuted, you should know the electricity travels through the human body seeking out weak points. Those weak points are under the upper arms, inside the thighs, for guys their penis and sometimes parts of the head. Those parts blow out – yes it’s a terrible injury. So if only one worker was burned the other two are quite lucky.

The one suffering the worst burns was 46-years-of-age, not sure if he’s married or with dependent children, but injury to any worker is significant when electricity is involved with causing the injury. Rehabilitation is long and hard and may never be complete or bring you back to normal. Just think for a second about your brain being short circuited by an extremely high electrical charge and how the gray matter would be affected. And take a moment to think about the effect of electricity on the human nervous system. The effects are very serious indeed.

Narragansett Electric PSA with Ben Franklin

How do workers protect themselves? Well, they can first make sure that all lines they are working around are de-energized. Never assume any line is not energized, assume just the opposite. Demand that all lines be de-energized by the power or electrical company that owns them before any work is performed. If the boom is being used near a power line, stay away from it. If your supervisor calls you a wimp call his supervisor.

Make sure the guy running the boom is properly trained. Before taking one of these jobs learn the ins and outs of using one safely. Read the owner's manual that comes with the boom truck.

All three workers that were injured are entitled to workers' compensation benefits. They will first receive medical coverage, then weekly indemnity benefits (a pay check) and after that permanency benefits, if they have permanent impairment or restrictions.

Well, that's all for today. I'm just getting back from vacation and there's too much to do around here today.

How long does it take to settle a workers’ compensation case?

It takes as long as it takes. It should take long enough to do it right. Okay, so what is it in months? Well, probably about 18 months on average; or a little longer. Why, you ask?

Well because the hold up is your medical condition and the treatment it takes to get you to a point of maximum medical improvement. It’s all about doctor’s opinions. The sooner the doctor lets you go back to work or finish up with your treatment the lawyers can do the rest of their work to settle or try your care. 

Think of doctor opinions like you do gasoline in a car’s fuel tank. If there is no gas in the tank, then the car won’t start up. Same goes for the workers’ compensation benefits engine. If you don’t have a doctor’s opinion the work comp benefits engine won’t start. So doctor opinions are the fuel of the workers’ compensation benefits engine. Simply stated your work injury must be related to your work.

Now what kind of gas do you need? You need a positive doctor opinion that relates your injury and need for treatment to what you do at work.

Then you’ll need a medical opinion that says because of that injury or the need for medical treatment you need to be off of work. That’s a doctor’s work excuse.

And then you’ll need a doctor’s opinion saying you can go back to work. That’s a work release.

After you go back to work and you’re finished with treatment the doctor will decide if he thinks you have permanent impairment or activity restrictions.

All this takes time and has to be done in sequence. Nothing can be rushed or done sloppy.

So be patient; don’t worry it will get done, but in time.

Call us if you have questions. 1-515-222-1110 We even take email. sdlombardi@aol.com

Trinidad death leads to OSHA fine for Iowa company

The Register reports the Clear Lake company we posted on previously for the death of a worker, Simon Trinidad, a 35 year-old when he fell into a metal hopper, was fined by IOSH in the amount of $375,000. Apparently this is the second time this company has been fined for a similar violation. The company is Andrews Prestressed Concrete in Clear Lake, Iowa.

These types of claims are easier for the workers’ compensation death claims than the third-party or gross negligence cases. We’ve had good experience on third party claims and some luck with gross negligence claims against the co-employees or supervisors.

Clear Lake Company issued a fine for the death of a worker who fell into an open hopper, is linkked to the Lombardi Law Firm news item.

Clear Lake Company issued a fine for the death of a worker who fell into an open hopper, is linked to the Des Moines Register article.

Worker safety is nothing to take lightly. Be safe not sorry. It's no laughing matter.

Workers Compensation Insurance Fraud Alleged in California

Allegations of fraud surround a California roofing company. Most of the time tort reformists allege fraud on the part of employees who file workers compensation claims. The lawyers working in this area know that employees are not the source of waste or fraud that costs some state workers’ compensation programs. Iowa is certainly not one of the states with a great deal of waste. Our state program has some of the lowest rates and best claim histories for any state. The Iowa Insurance Division regularly investigates fraud and has an Insurance Fraud Bureau that attempts a one-sided and misguided focus against employees without focusing on the larger problem, employer or business fraud that manipulates payroll and claims to avoid premium payments.  It’s easy to talk about fraud with some fictitious worker filing a false workers’ compensation claim, but in Iowa actually finding those cases has not proven to be true.

This time it’s California, a state that has had reforms aimed at reducing costs. The state of California is making various allegations; see below. What’s interesting is that the alleged fraud and bad business practices have nothing to do with employees filing for workers’ compensation benefits. Instead it’s the employer who is the focus of this investigation.

Investigators said Petronella and Kile told insurers their payroll was $2.9 million from 2000 to 2009, the period under scrutiny. But their actual payroll totaled $29 million. According to the district attorney, the $38 million fraud allegation consists of $29 million in unpaid premiums plus penalties and assessments for inaccurate reporting.

The bias of tort reform groups can be seen not so much by what those groups report on but on what they don’t report. In this instance this story isn’t found on any of the major tort reform sites.

Tort reforms previously passed in California have had mixed results. There was a temporary decrease in insurance rates but coverage for high risk laborers is beginning to increase. This type of case shown by the roofers may be one reason for that increase.

From 1998 to 2003, average premiums for all jobs tripled to $6.45 per $100 in payroll, according to the Workers Compensation Insurance Ratings Bureau. Following reforms passed in 2004 under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, average rates dipped to $2.25 per $100 in payroll by the end of last year.

But those rates are poised to rise again. The Workers Compensation Insurance Ratings Bureau proposed a 24 percent increase beginning in July,

Rates for construction workers, such as roofers, are more than 10 times the state average, because of numerous on-the-job accidents. The State Compensation Insurance Fund, a quasi-public company that is California's largest workers' comp insurer, currently charges $47.80 per $100 in payroll to cover roofers. In 2003, the rate was $99.68 per $100 in payroll.

The allegations appear to go beyond simple insurance claim practices. The allegations would appear to attack the business practices having to do with income and expense handling.

Prosecutors said Petronella and Kile used their companies as personal piggy banks to support their lavish lifestyle. The indictment says Petronella and Kile owe the state more than $1.1 million in back taxes for under-reporting their personal incomes from 2005 to 2007.

Between 2005 and 2007, they said, the couple reported $290,000 income on their tax returns while spending $2.1 million for personal items – designer shoes, clothing and jewels – on a company credit card.

"Their company American Express Black card, which by law should only be used for legitimate business purpose, became a passport to personal excess," Rackauckas said, "almost $440,000 on jewelry alone from 2005 to 2008, more than $425,000 spent on shopping sprees at luxury stores in 2008."

As always allegations of fraud and crime are simply that, allegations. All must be proven before guilt can be assumed.

Clear Lake company issued a fine for the death of a worker who fell into an open hopper

IOSH, or OSHA as it's most commonly called fined a Clear Lake company $357,000 for an accident that killed an employee. The Des Moines Register article indicates this is the second time an open hopper unprotected by guardrails has been the issue of a citation.  The worker that died is 35, Simon Trinidad. He's entitled to receive at the very least workers' compensation death benefits. If he was married or had dependents they too are entitled to benefits.

"The Iowa Occupational Safety and Health Bureau said employees were exposed to the 12-foot deep, open hopper that was unprotected by guardrails. The company was cited in 2006 for the same violation."

Workers Compensation: Death from a saw kickback

On April 15th 2009 33 year old Eugene Hakes was killed it work when a large, gasoline powered saw he was using to cut through a water main kicked back and cut his throat. Coworkers saw him holding his throat and tried to help him and called 911, when he reached the hospital he was pronounced dead.

Two months ago OSHA fine A-1 nearly $700,000 for 11 workplace violations involving trenching operations while A-1 has challenged the fine one has to wonder if any of these violations ultimately resulted in Mr. Hakes death. An investigation into the accident is ongoing.

AVOIDING TABLE SAW KICKBACK

Many workers who are injured don't understand the necessity of safety. Others aren't  trained property and still others fear being fired if they ask too many questions and give the impression they aren't qualified. Still others simply don't read the safety manual for whatever reason.

Employers need to make sure all safety equipment is utilized and manuals are read and understood. It's the employer's responsibility to ensure a safe workplace. Not the employees.