Representative Cases: Workers' Compensation Cases

Workers' Compensation

• Benefits were obtained for an Altoona, Pennsylvania  tractor trailer driver who sustained a herniated cervical disc when his rig hit a pothole on Interstate 80. The employer hired a doctor who said that the disc ruptured due to preexisting degenerative disc disease. The treating surgeon stated that the whiplash movement of the neck when the truck hit the pothole caused the disc to rupture. At the conclusion of the litigation, the Judge awarded benefits to the injured truck driver.
  
  
• An Altoona, Pennsylvania factory mechanic with over 20 years service with the employer suffered a heart attack when using a large wrench to loosen a bolt on a machine, The Employer tried to avoid paying benefits on the basis that the worker had developed coronary artery disease as a result of family history and poor diet. They finally admitted that workers compensation benefits were due after Attorney Kovacs obtained extensive medical records and a conclusive report from a cardiologist that the strain of loosening the bolt precipitated the heart attack.
  
  
• An assembly line worker in a fiber optic wire manufacturing plant in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, developed shoulder tendonitis/impingement syndrome as a result of repetitive reaching. The employer hired a doctor who said that the condition was arthritis and had nothing to do with work activities. After Attorney Kovacs presented medical testimony from the treating orthopedic surgeon that reaching out and overhead hundreds of times each day caused the shoulder problem. The Judge awarded benefits.
  
  
• A Bedford County, Pennsylvania  asbestos remover fell from a ladder suffering a severe wrist fracture. After surgery, the employer tried to stop benefits on the basis that the worker could return to full duty work. A settlement was reached after the treating surgeon testified that the worker would never be able to resume his regular job because it involved too much repetitive use of his injured wrist.
  
  
• An Altoona, Pennsylvania  school custodian felt a popping sensation in his low back with pain radiating down his leg after lifting a teacher's desk. The school district tried to avoid paying workers comp benefits on the basis that the worker had back pain off and on for several years - they claimed the problem was preexisting. The treating surgeon testified that although the worker had preexisting degenerative disc disease, lifting the heavy desk was like "the straw that broke the camel's back" -it caused the diseased disc to rupture. The Judge awarded benefits.
  
  
• A Blair County, Pennsylvania sheet metal worker broke a vertebrae in his back in a fall from a ladder. The employer tried to stop his workers compensation benefits on the basis that he could resume full duty work, even though the work is very heavy duty in nature. After extended litigation the case was settled with payment of a lump sum.
  
  
• The widow of a man who had worked for over 30 years in a silica brick manufacturing plant in Sproul filed a claim for benefits on the basis that her husband's death was caused by silicosis, a lung disease caused by breathing silica dust. The employer argued that his death was caused by lung cancer. Attorney Kovacs had all of the medical records reviewed by an expert forensic pathologist who issued a report clearly showing that the decedent's lung cancer was caused by the silicosis due to the many years of exposure to silica dust. The employer agreed to pay a lump sum settlement to the elderly widow.