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.