eNews - September 5, 2008
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| Stroke
Victim Wins Long Battle Against City of L.A. |
Partner Sherry
Grant won a substantial permanent disability Award for
a long time employee of the City of Los Angeles. The Workers'
Compensation Judge found that her client, who suffered an
industrially related stroke, was totally and permanently disabled
after being subjected to intolerable working conditions. City
Attorneys disagreed with the decision, seeking to reduce the
money awarded to the injured employee. City Attorneys appealed
the trial judge's findings all the way up to the Court of
Appeals, arguing unsuccessfully that disability benefits should
be reduced because pre-existing factors led to the stroke.
Grant and Associate Attorney Erika Vargas prevailed after
multiple cross examinations of the agreed medical examiners
and submission of the case at trial. Subsequent to the 2004
change in the law regarding apportionment, many disputes have
arisen regarding the value of the permanent disability to
be awarded. The self-insured employer community and the insurance
community have tried to blame legitimate work disability on
pre-existing factors to reduce injured workers' permanent
disability benefits. In Ms. Grant's case, she successfully
proved that there was no reason to reduce the injured worker's
permanent disability recovery due to pre-existing factors.
"This is a huge victory on an issue that continues to
cause distress throughout the Workers' Compensation community,"
Grant said.
Our workers' compensation attorneys work to stay up to date
on legal cases that address similar apportionment issues and
aggressively advocate for our clients to protect their right
to a fair permanent disability recovery.
If you know someone interested in consulting an attorney about
a case, please contact us at (213) 739-7000 or please click
here for more information.
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