Good lawyering requires both creativity and a deep knowledge of the law. Last week I obtained a ruling of Permanent Total Disability for a client. The ruling entitles her to much-deserved lifetime weekly compensation benefits. This is especially important because in 2007 the Workers Compensation Law was changed to put limits on the time period for which you can receive benefits. There is now a 10-year limit on benefit duration unless you had a 100% Medicial Disability or a 100% Loss of Wage Earning Capacity (ability to work and earn money).

My client is a 55 year-old woman with a severe back condition. All of the doctors she consulted with conculded that she has a 60% medical disability. Most attorneys would have accepted that rating as is, entitling her to just 350 weeks of compensation benefits. But that would have been the wrong outcome.

Because of my client’s educational level and work experience, I knew that she was entitled to more. She only has a high school education and does not know how to use a computer. My client has never worked in any other position other than house cleaning.

All of the doctors who testified conceded that my client’s injury prevented her from doing her job – the work of a house cleaner. In fact, they all conceded that she could not do any type of physical labor. I then took my client’s testimony and established her lack of transferrable skills, focusing on her education and work experience. In essence I showed that there was no other work that she could successfully perform.

The judge agreed with my argument — my client has only a 60% Medical Disability, but has a 100% loss of her Wage Earning Capacity. The judge awarded my client Total Disability benefits, which allowed an award of a lifetime of benefits, not just a 10-year benefit period. This was a huge, and much-deserved, victory for my client.

When representing clients it is important to know your client and to know their background. This is how we practice. We strive to obtain the best outcome for out clients by knowing them, knowing the law and knowing how to obtain the maximum benefits for them.

Prior results do not guarantee outcomes.
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