The injured parties are certainly entitled to damages, but their attorney is the most self-serving/promoting individual in N.W. Indiana. He does an excellent job getting his name out which in turn results in new clients. I believe he has every newspaper/TV station on speed dial to promote himself when he gets a case and if he wins, look out they are all over the press coverage.
I don’t know Indiana WC laws, but if they can’t prove negligence on the part of the company, isn’t the injured worker stopped in his tracks due to the “exclusive remedy” clause? Maybe Indiana doesn’t have this. Does anybody know?
Because they need to leave some money for the rest of the injured workers to go after. Then, when the companies they sue go bankrupt they will scream foul and tell of how poorly they were treated by the system.
Indiana is a sole remedy state. There has never been a sucessful EL claim against an employer that purchases a WC policy.
This incident, while horrific, is just an excuse for an ambulance chaser to file suit. This certianly won’t blast out sole remedy. It’s not like this is a totally unexpected event at a mill.
Mills are inherently dangerous places to work and there will be horrible accidents. The lost time rate is hundreds of time less than it was just 40 years ago.
Sole remedy and the exclusivity of workers’ compensation have nothing to do with employers’ liability coverage.
Employers’ liability provides coverage for injuries suffered by third parties not the employer (except in third-party-over and dual capacity situations). Such as loss of consortium and consequential injury.
Spaldy and Sole Remedy you are right on both counts. I know the WC Judge in this district and he is a former plaintiffs attorney and will do whatever he can to give the benefit of the doubt to the employee. However, if the employee has accepted any WC benefits he may be limited as to what he is able to sue for. I had a claim about 10 years ago that they where claiming EL outside of the WC system and it went to the State Supreme Court and was shut down by the Justices. It is a shame when people get drawn in by the ambulance chasers out there and just give away some of there benefits. His wife states that he is back working so it would be very difficult for him to claim a permanent and total disability as well.
I appreciate the comments of the former IN Work Comp Case manager along with others.
If we are thinking of the same person as the WC Judge, I totally agree with you on their generous support for Plaintiffs.
Knowing Ken Allen and his shanningans he tries to pull with judges and juries are very theatrical and if I didn’t know better he was a Theatre Major in college before going to law school. Of course, he had to take a course in law school on how best to present himself to a jury and sure he brown-nosed for an “A” because he is quite orchestrasted!
Also, the Supreme Court recommended a “single digit multiple” standard for the ratio of punitive to compensatory damages. Punitive awards larger than 9 times compensatory have a good chance of being overturned as excessive.
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The injured parties are certainly entitled to damages, but their attorney is the most self-serving/promoting individual in N.W. Indiana. He does an excellent job getting his name out which in turn results in new clients. I believe he has every newspaper/TV station on speed dial to promote himself when he gets a case and if he wins, look out they are all over the press coverage.
I don’t know Indiana WC laws, but if they can’t prove negligence on the part of the company, isn’t the injured worker stopped in his tracks due to the “exclusive remedy” clause? Maybe Indiana doesn’t have this. Does anybody know?
I say go for it all, heck, why not $500M for that matter.
Because they need to leave some money for the rest of the injured workers to go after. Then, when the companies they sue go bankrupt they will scream foul and tell of how poorly they were treated by the system.
Indiana is a sole remedy state. There has never been a sucessful EL claim against an employer that purchases a WC policy.
This incident, while horrific, is just an excuse for an ambulance chaser to file suit. This certianly won’t blast out sole remedy. It’s not like this is a totally unexpected event at a mill.
Mills are inherently dangerous places to work and there will be horrible accidents. The lost time rate is hundreds of time less than it was just 40 years ago.
Sole remedy and the exclusivity of workers’ compensation have nothing to do with employers’ liability coverage.
Employers’ liability provides coverage for injuries suffered by third parties not the employer (except in third-party-over and dual capacity situations). Such as loss of consortium and consequential injury.
Spaldy and Sole Remedy you are right on both counts. I know the WC Judge in this district and he is a former plaintiffs attorney and will do whatever he can to give the benefit of the doubt to the employee. However, if the employee has accepted any WC benefits he may be limited as to what he is able to sue for. I had a claim about 10 years ago that they where claiming EL outside of the WC system and it went to the State Supreme Court and was shut down by the Justices. It is a shame when people get drawn in by the ambulance chasers out there and just give away some of there benefits. His wife states that he is back working so it would be very difficult for him to claim a permanent and total disability as well.
What a shame!
I appreciate the comments of the former IN Work Comp Case manager along with others.
If we are thinking of the same person as the WC Judge, I totally agree with you on their generous support for Plaintiffs.
Knowing Ken Allen and his shanningans he tries to pull with judges and juries are very theatrical and if I didn’t know better he was a Theatre Major in college before going to law school. Of course, he had to take a course in law school on how best to present himself to a jury and sure he brown-nosed for an “A” because he is quite orchestrasted!
Also, the Supreme Court recommended a “single digit multiple” standard for the ratio of punitive to compensatory damages. Punitive awards larger than 9 times compensatory have a good chance of being overturned as excessive.