Georgia Workers' Compensation Lawyer Blog

In a grim turn of events, a Georgia woman lost a foot as the result of a 2010 work-related accident. Initially, the administrative law judge (ALJ) over her case granted workers' compensation benefits. Upon review, the State Board of Workers' Compensation reversed the ALJ's decision and took away the previously-granted benefits.

Vanessa Stokes, a former head custodian at an elementary school, then appealed to the Superior Court of Coweta County; they upheld the board's reversal. However, Stokes applied for and was granted a discretionary appeal with the Georgia Court of Appeals. She sought reinstatement of the original award of benefits.

The details of this case are pretty unique and interesting. In early May of 2010, Stokes arrived to open up the school grounds as was dictated by her job. It was 5:45 a.m., dark outside and a heavy rain was falling. As Stokes tells it, she pulled her car very close to the school's gates so as to aim her headlights at the lock. While she was outside her car unlocking the gates, her car began rolling downhill backwards.


Instinctively, Stokes ran toward the car so as to stop it, but tripped and fell after just a few steps. It was then that the car rolled over her left foot; a few days later the foot had to be amputated. According to Stokes, she was trying to stop the car so as to ensure that no damage occurred to school property or her car. As it turned out, the car stopped in a wooded area, still on school property.

After the ALJ awarded benefits,the State Board of Workers' Compensation overturned his decision based on their decision that the accident didn't arise out of Vanessa Stokes' employment. This is because they saw that within the scope of her job, her duties were to open the gate, unlock the building, and perform tasks of a janitorial nature. According to the Board, "going after a moving vehicle" was not part of her job and doing so "undertook a personal mission, in pursuit of [her] personal property, not connected to her duties with the [e]mployer." They also found that she didn't try to stop the vehicle for reasons of preventing injury to anyone or damage to her employer's property.

Essentially, they decided that she was deviating from her job at hand and, as such, was deprived compensation. Stokes appealed the case and was shot down by the Superior Court. The Court of Appeals disagreed with the upholding of the reversal and overturned it, saying,
"Under the circumstances presented, we conclude that the Board's decision was based upon an erroneous theory regarding what conduct constitutes a deviation from employment that will bar compensation under the [Workers' Compensation] Act. It is undisputed that, at the instant Stokes' car began to roll, she was on duty (not on break); she was physically located precisely where her job duties required her to be at that time, that is, at the driveway gate; and, she was unlocking the gate, a task required by her job duties and of benefit to the employer. Indeed, but for the necessity that she stop her car on the sloped driveway and exit the car to open the gate, the accident would not have occurred."

So, as this case illustrates, your case isn't over at an initial 'no'. If you need help pursuing the workers' compensation benefits you are entitled to, contact Moebes Law at our Atlanta law office at 404-354-5432.

To kick off the New Year, Dannie Joe Eiland filed suit in Hawaii District Court (Eiland v. Smith Maritime LLC et al) against his employers. Eiland, a married father of four with another child on the way, was injured while at work on motor tug M/V Niolo. His injuries resulted in medical expenses, time out of work, and a possible permanent disability that could end his career as a seaman.

In early September 2011, Eiland was at work when he found oil on the Niolo's deck. He was in the process of cleaning it up in order to prevent the oil from leaking overboard and causing a Coast Guard 'oil pollution incident'. While performing the cleanup, Eiland slipped on a portion of the boat's stern called the Pin Table. He fell and sustained a compression fracture to his thoracic spine as well as other non-specified injuries.

The oil was cooking oil and had come from the boat's galley (the sea goer's term for 'kitchen'). A new galley hand had poured the oil into trash bags and placed them on the rear portion of the tug's deck for removal. The oil then leaked from the bags and was likely tracked around the deck and Pin Table by other crew members moving around the vessel.

Eiland was examined medically and found unfit for duty. To add insult to his injuries, while the Plaintiff was at home recovering his employers sent a binding arbitration agreement to his home. In the cover letter accompanying the agreement, the Defendants apparently intimated that should Eiland not sign the paperwork agreeing to arbitration, they would cut off all payments and benefits to him and his family, even before he was deemed medically fit to return to his duties.

Eiland's suit claims that this agreement was put forth to him in bad faith during a time of personal duress. He felt that his rights as an employee were being overlooked and that his employers intentionally sought to further limit his rights with the binding arbitration agreement. Eiland also believes that his employers are liable because unsafe deck conditions and poorly-trained crewmembers contributed to his injuries; he claims that his employers simply did not provide the safety measures that were within their means and, further, were their responsibility.

At the time of injury, Eiland was under long-term, mutually-signed contracts with the Defendants. As a result, he feels entitled to their care and concern through, at minimum, the duration of those contracts. The employers tucked a paragraph in the agreement for binding arbitration that would have cut all moneys and benefits off on March 15th, 2012.

Dannie Joe Eiland cites the Jones Act as a basis for his suit. The Jones Act, for those of you who are unfamiliar, is a part of U.S. Maritime Law that allows injured sailors to make claims and collect from their employers for acts of negligence by a vessel's owner, captain, or other members of the crew. It also ensures the right to a trial by jury.

So, yes: If you are working at sea with a U.S. company, you could be entitled to Worker's Compensation benefits under the law. We'd love to help you with your workers' comp case if, like Dannie Jo Eiland, your employer doesn't see eye to eye with you.

Georgia workers' compensation law provides that an aggravation of an old, pre-existing injury is treated as a new accident. Sometimes, such an aggravation does not occur in one specific incident or trauma, but rather happens over time while working at a more strenuous job.

If you aggravate an injury by working at a later job that requires, for example, more heavy lifting, more frequent bending, or more climbing than did your old job, and you have to leave the new job as a result, the last day you were able to work is labeled a "fictional new accident." This often means litigation between the injured worker and the two employer (and/or two insurance companies).

For more information and guidance on legal issues like the ones a "fictional new accident" can present, please contact my Atlanta workers' compensation law office :

Moebes Law, LLC
3535 Piedmont Road NE
Building 14, Suite 410
Atlanta, GA  30305
(404)354-5432

Suppose you are a truck driver or delivery person and have a crash while at work and "on the clock." You could probably benefit from having access to your "crash report," right?

Georgia has a new online service, BuyCrash.com, that will allow just that for as little as $5. 

Using a number of search options, such as name, date of crash or road of occurrence, motorists can conduct a search for the report and pay $10 for an online copy. A copy also is available via U.S. mail for $5. The new service is offered through a partnership with Open Portal Solutions and Georgia DOT.

For other tools that will help with your workers' compensation claim in Georgia, please feel free to contact the Atlanta workers' compensation attorneys at Moebes Law.

Sadly, acts of violence in the workplace are not uncommon, and depending on the circumstances surrounding the attack, injuries sustained because of a coworker's or customer's violence can be covered under the Georgia Workers' Compensation Act.

One of my clients has attracted some local media attention because of the circumstances that precipitated her injury at work in Atlanta. Here is the first Fox 5 report regarding her story:

Another investigative reporter discussed the case with my office today, because he's seen an increase in attacks against women in the last year.  His continuing coverage of this event and this trend will be filmed early next week.

While I don't have any direct knowledge of this trend, a friend of mine created a blog last year that raises awareness regarding violence against women (and sometimes men) by acquaintances, spouses, and partners that I highly recommend visiting and supporting.  Its URL is violenceunsilenced.com.  I'm not the first person to opine that Maggie may be eligible for sainthood shortly.   

If you've been injured at work because of a coworker's or customer's act of violence, please contact the Atlanta workers' compensation attorney, Michael Moebes, for questions about compensability and your rights under the law.  As is referenced above, variables such as who the aggressor is, where the attack took place, and whether the attacker and victim had a relationship outside of the work environment can all affect whether the injury arose out of, and in the course of, employment. 
 

Several of the cases my workers' compensation law office in Atlanta is handling involve clients who have had injuries at work caused by another party's negligence. Thus, they have a workers' compensation claim and a personal injury lawsuit stemming from the same injury or injuries.

Injuries stemming from trucking or other motor vehicle accidents often present these issues if the victim drives a truck for a living or is traveling for his employment.  "Slip and fall" accidents can also lend themselves to negligence lawsuits on top of a workers' comp claim, assuming the injured party fell while working. 

If you've had a workplace injury in metro Atlanta and think there could be a personal injury lawsuit and a workers' comp claim, please contact my office, which handles workplace accidents in Georgia and partners with Atlanta personal injury lawyers. 

In my Atlanta workers' compensation practice, I often encounter injured workers who have developed pain in their wrists and hands.

While most of us have heard of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) as an ailment many administrative assistants can develop from years of typing, CTS can also be trauma induced and begin after a fall. Other risk factors for CTS include obesity, smoking, and (more obviously) repetitive motion job duties.

Please do not hesitate to contact my Atlanta workers' compensation law office if you have questions about wrist and hand pain, and you believe your painful symptoms could have originated at work.

Many of my clients, after suffering a physical injury at work, find themselves losing interest in activities they used to enjoy. They often want to sleep twice as many hours as they used to need to feel rested. They're anxious. They begin feeling hopeless.

Sometimes, an Atlanta attorney who handles workers' compensation cases can forget that not everyone knows that a physically injured worker can ask his doctor for a psychiatric referral, too. Under Georgia workers' compensation caselaw, if a psychiatric injury is preceded by a physical one, psychiatric care can also be part of the workers' compensation claim. 

Continue reading "Atlantans hurt at work physically often depressed, anxious" »

Under the Georgia Workers' Compensation Act, an injury is compensable if it occurs "by an accident that arises out of and in the course of" employment.  What does that mean? 
An accident arises out of employment when there's a causal connection between work circumstances and the injury.  Ask yourself, "Did my work duties cause me to get hurt?  Would I have injured myself if I were not performing work-related tasks?" when examining whether your injury is work-related or not. 

An accident arises in the course of employment when the time, place, and circumstances of the injury are related to employment.  Ask yourself, "Was I in a place that was work-related when I hurt myself?  Would I have hurt myself at this time and place if I didn't have my job?" when examining whether your injury is work-related or not.

While these definitions may seem fairly simple, unique circumstances can make them complicated.  Discuss your accident with a workers' compensation lawyer in Atlanta to find out whether your accident's circumstances are such that your injury is compensable.