$618,000 Workers’ Compensation Settlement

category: Personal Injuries,Work Injuries,Workers' Comp Cases

$618,000 Workers' Compensation Settlement

---

$618,000 Workers’ Compensation Settlement. A 61-year-old man was injured at work while delivering building materials. He and a coworker were carrying a load of a product when it shifted in their hands and crashed down on his head, severely injuring his neck and left shoulder. At first, he was only treated conservatively, but then had an MRI and was ordered off work two days later. Surgery was scheduled and performed one month later and his doctor’s operative report indicated profound compression of the spinal cord, flattening of the spinal cord, and profound stenosis from C4 to C7. The surgeon performed a posterior cervical laminectomy, C4 to C7, decompression of the spinal canal and neural foramen, posterior cervical fusion, and posterior instrumentation C4 to C7 utilizing Vertex lateral mass screws and rods. Our client returned for a post-op appointment complaining of weakness and instability and later he was experiencing incontinence of urine on occasion. Upon physical examination, it was noted that he could stand and walk, but that his gait was slow and deliberate. An MRI was ordered and revealed an abnormality within the cord at C4-C5 consistent with myelomalacia, but the doctor indicated it might be up to two years until he reaches Maximum Medical Improvement (MMI).

Five months later he presented to his doctor for an independent medical examination in which his doctor opined that our client suffered from an adhesive capsulitis/frozen left shoulder and that he would benefit from a closed manipulation of the left shoulder followed by physical therapy. Three months later, shoulder manipulation, as well as glenohumeral and subacromial corticosteroid injections, was performed. After that failed to relieve pain, his doctor performed another MRI which then showed a full-thickness tear of the rotator cuff with evidence of atrophy of the supraspinatus. Surgery was performed shortly thereafter. Our client can no longer return to his job of driving vehicles commercially and because of the medications he is taking, he poses a liability risk to any future employer. He cannot do any of the same tasks at home that he used to do such as working on cars and chores around the house. This case settled for $153,354.00, representing $105,000.00 for permanent and total disability, $40,000.00 for medical not covered by Medicare, and $8,354.00 for Medicare Set Aside seed money. His employer agreed to purchase an annuity to pay our client monthly benefits of $1,800.00 for life with a 20-year guarantee, another annuity that pays directly to our client a lump sum of $32,077.96, another annuity that pays our client annual benefits of $3,987.00 for life to fund the MSA and another annuity which pays $2,000 annually for life for medical not covered by Medicare.