Atlanta Workers Compensation Lawyers Blog

A Dekalb County sanitation worker injured his right knee jumping off a garbage truck while running his route. He had previously in a prior accident also injured his right elbow. For a period of time he was off-work, and then he was returned to light-duty work. The light-duty job eventually ended and he was placed on temporary total disability income benefits, while receving medical care, as the employer contended there was no other light duty work available for him. As part of his workers compensation benefits, he received meniscus tear surgery, physical therapy, medical equipment such as a hinged knee brace, and temporary total disability income benefits for over five years. However, the employer/insurer sent the worker numerous times to independent medical evaluations and functional capacity evaluations in an attempt to undermine his claim. There evolved competing medical opinions as to the cause of the worker's symptoms, as well as his ability to work. The employer/insurer's doctors gave opinions that he could return as a sanitation worker in a heavy physical job category as long as he wore a knee brace. They also gave opinions that the symptoms were due to aging and degenerative changes unrelated to the work injury. Other doctors indicated he could not perform his prior job and might be a candidate for knee transplantation. Ironically, especially in light of the employer/insurer doctors' medical opinions about ability to work, the worker was granted full disability under by the Social Security Administration after their review of all his medical records. After almost seven years from the date of injury, the worker decided to enter into a final settlement of his claims. The worker's overall recovery was more than $100,000 in medical benefits and settlement monies for future medicals, income benefits, and permanent disability.

As an Atlanta Workers Compensation Attorney, I handle a wide variety of work-related injuries and compensation. In a recent case, a 57-year old plumber who had three different accident dates for his right shoulder and left knee in 1999, 2003, and 2005, and multiple surgeries for rotator cuff repair and total knee replacement, became addicted to his prescription narcotic medications related to his work injuries and surgeries. When he died in 2009, the widow suspected that he had died of a drug overdose.

We were able to obtain an official coroner’s autopsy report attributing the death, in part, to morphine and diazepam, which reflected prescription medications related to his work injuries. The coroner classified the death accidental. The report noted that the worker also had a history of hypertensive cardiovascular disease, renal arteriolosclerosis, and depression.

From the employer/insurer’s perspective, the claimant had a history of drug abuse, both prescription and street drugs, including a period of drug abuse prior to and completely unrelated to any of his work accidents. He also had been through multiple rehabilitation facilities for treatment.

The maximum death benefit in Georgia to qualified dependents for a proven work-related death is $150,000. This is a pitifully small sum for a work-related death, but has not been changed since 2006. To make matters worse, this maximum is also reduced in all cases by the amount of temporary total disability (TTD) weekly income benefits already paid up to 400 weeks. TTD benefits had already been paid to this worker for over 220 weeks, which meant that the remaining 180 weeks at $420 per week was approximately $70,000 in present value.

Additionally, the spouse worked and made more income than her husband. When the spouse is not wholly dependent on the deceased worker’s income, then the recovery is additionally reduced by the proportionate income support. Since the spouse was not wholly dependent on the worker’s income a t the time of his last injury, she was at best statutorily entitled to one-half the $70,000 amount plus $7,500 burial expenses if the case of work-related addiction was won at trial.

As the case would have been expensive for the insurer to try in light of the coroner’s autopsy report, involving multiple experts and witnesses, the parties settled for almost full value $35,000.