Lifting Injury Low Back
Feniger & Uliasz Lawyers
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The injured employee was 59 years of age at the time of his injury and had been in the plumbing, pipe fitting and sprinkler fitting industry for his entire adult life. The work he performs would be considered extremely heavy. He is required to engage in constant lifting of weight in excess of 50 lbs, bending, stooping and working on ladders or staging. On the date of the injury he was using a pipe threading machine and in the process of lifting a large groover he felt sudden pain in his back with radiation into the right leg. He underwent surgery to his back in the form of discectomy and fusion. He remains on Lyrica and Percocet for the pain and uses a cane for support. In the opinion of his doctor he is totally disabled. The insurance carrier had the injured employee examined by a doctor of its choice known as an IME. The IME doctor offered an opinion that his work capacity was minimal and sedentary. We argued that the work capacity outlined was insufficient to support even a minimum wage earning capacity. Therefore, it was our claim that the employee was not only totally disabled but qualified for permanent disability under section 34A. We looked at the life expectancy for the injured employee with a present age of 59 finding it to be 21.19 years. The calculated payments by the insurance company over his remaining life would be in excess of one million dollars based on the fact that the Claimant was receiving the maximum rate under the Workers’ Compensation statute for the date of injury.
The injured employee was qualified for social security disability benefits and we were able to negotiate a six figure settlement offer.
