Injured Worker Tries to Claim Benefits from Two Entities

Highlights:

Thorough knowledge of the Workers’ Compensation Act enabled CSH attorney Kline to prevent his client from paying workers’ compensation benefits he did not owe.

Summary:

A man hired a company to provide workers on a project for him.  While on the job, one of the workers was injured.  The worker brought a workers’ compensation claim against both the man and the company who employed him, arguing that both were his employers.  The man came to CSH defense attorney Brad Kline to defend his interestes.

Mr. Kline represented the man in the hearing before the Commission that hears workers’ compensation cases, took medical depositions, and submitted a brief to the Commissioner hearing the case.  He pointed out that his client employed fewer than three people, meaning he was not subject to the Commission’s authority, and that, regardless, the injured worker was not his employee at the time of the injury.

The Commissioner agreed with Mr. Kline and held that the worker was employed by the company, dismissing CSH’s client from the case entirely.

Result/Implications:

CSH’s client was able to avoid litigation and paying any benefits he did not owe to another company’s employee.

Disclaimer: The outcome of a particular case cannot be predicated upon a lawyer’s or a law firm’s past results.