In this Issue — June 2010
- YOU BE THE JUDGE
Case One
You are an employee and you get hurt at work. While you are collecting Workers Compensation and still injured, you are fired from your job for reasons unrelated to your injury. Can you still continue to collect your Workers Compensation even after you have been fired? The answer is YES. In order to collect Workers Compensation, Courts only consider whether you have medically recovered from your injuries. Until you have recovered, you are entitled to Workers Compensation benefits.”It is a well-settled principle that when a claimant seeks Workers Compensation benefits, the question is whether the claimant’s condition has stabilized ( i.e. whether the claimant has reached maximum medical improvement…) “Whether an employee has been discharged for a valid cause, or whether the discharge violates some public policy, are matters unrelated to Workers Compensation cases. An injured employee’s entitlement to benefits is a completely separate issue and may not be conditioned on the employee being fired”, the courts have said.Case Two
Joe gets arrested for DUI on January 1, 2010. Before that case is resolved, he gets arrested for a second DUI on May 1, 2010. Does the May 1st DUI count as a 2nd offense for sentencing purposes? (Okay, if you get this one right, drop everything you are doing and immediately apply to law school!) The answer is NO, the May 1, 2010 arrest only counts as a 1st offense (meaning less jail time). Why? Because Joe had not been sentenced for his 1st offense (January 1, 2010) when the second arrest occurred. Therefore, the Courts must count both arrests as first offenses, which means less jail time for Joe! That’s a pretty good example of why you must have an attorney to help you on any criminal case.
- MULTIPLE CHOICE WORKERS COMPENSATION QUESTION
You are hurt on the job and need medical treatment. How many days do you have to notify your employer of your work-related injury, in order to be eligible to collect Workers Compensation benefits? 60 days, 120 days, 180 days or no time limits? The answer is 120 days. You must notify your employer within 120 days (4 months) of your injury in order to collect benefits.
- ALERT!! FAULTY HIP REPLACEMENT SYSTEMS SPARK COMPLAINTS
There are many complaints about DePuy ASR hip replacement systems. DePuy Orthopedics, an Indiana-based orthopedics division of Johnson & Johnson, recently announced that it was withdrawing its ASR hip implant from the market after reports about the device failing soon after implantation. The Food & Drug Administration has received about 300 complaints since 2008 regarding the DePuy implant; most of the complaints were from patients who had to have their hip implant replaced. There are signs that DePuy’s ASR system – a metal-on-metal hip replacement device – has a high failure rate similar to several other hip prosthetics. Legally, this is a design and manufacturing defect. If you or a loved one is having problems with a hip replacement, please call me at 800-518-0050