One of our recent settlements involved an employee who broke a leg in a forklift accident at work. We settled his workers’ compensation claim for $120,000.00.
Our client’s accident happened only a few weeks after he started working for his employer. In Massachusetts, the amount of money that an injured worker receives in weekly disability checks for a work-injury is based upon his or her average weekly wage, which is calculated over the 52-week period leading up to the injured workers’ accident. However, in this case, since our client had worked for his employer for far less than this 52-week period, and the insurance company was trying to argue that his average weekly wage was less than what he’d been told he would make when he was hired, we filed a claim seeking a higher average weekly wage for our client. Our office was successful in our claim and, as a result, our client began receiving more money each week while he was out-of-work.
After our client had been out-of-work for some time, the insurance company filed a claim in an attempt to reduce the amount of money our client received each week, arguing that he was able to work. However, we were again successful and his benefits remained the same. After the Conference, we began negotiating with the insurance company and we were able to reach the $120,000.00 settlement for our client, which paid him many years of future weekly benefits.
If you’ve suffered a similar work-injury, please feel free to contact our office now to schedule a free consultation or call one of our attorneys at (617) 379-0016.