Worker Compensation Case Results

A nursing home engineer settled his workers compensation claim favorably for workplace injuries that required two spinal fusions, causing permanent work restrictions.

The worker's compensation lawyers at Lipkin & Apter represented a 45-year-old Field Service Engineer and resident of Northeast Indiana who came to us with a history of back problems, having undergone spinal fusion surgery when he was 24 years. While installing a motor weighing 250 pounds at a customer’s plant in St. Louis, Missouri, our client suffered an aggravation of his old back problem. However, the employer’s Workers’ Compensation insurance company denied the claim, citing the client’s previous history of back problems and the unclear circumstances of the accident. After investigating the facts of the accident, we then had in-depth discussions with our client’s neurosurgeon, a resident of Northeast Indiana, about the circumstances of his accident and his back injury and obtained a favorable medical report from his neurosurgeon. On the eve of trial, the employer’s insurance company gave up and offered our client all back pay owed, payment of all medical expenses, and the compensation for a permanent disability that we had demanded. Our client has returned to his job with his company.

Illinois Workers Compensation awards Lipkin & Apter client who suffered work-related injuries while out-of-state.

Our worker's compensation attorneys represented a 39-year-old cable repairman who was working in a utility shack atop a 17-story Illinois apartment building. He fell through a trap door of a six-foot access shaft while attempting to retrieve a two-way company phone. The access shaft had guard rails/walls on all sides. There were no warning signs against entering the access shaft or stepping on the trap door, which our client thought was solid, concrete sub-floor. As a result, our client fell eight feet to the hallway stairs below, resulting in multiple fractures of his leg. Knee replacement surgery will be required in the future. In the end, our client was awarded $1.2 million for his injury case. He also received an additional $300,000 for his worker's compensation claim.

Lipkin & Apter settled a client’s ongoing workers compensation case and avoided going to trial. Learn more about this case.

Can a Construction Worker Collect Workers Compensation for a Birth Defect Discovered During Surgery? A 31-year-old Illinois construction worker (cement finisher) suffered a stroke after climbing up and down a ladder multiple times on the job. He underwent three brain surgeries, during which it was found that he had been born with a congenital anomaly (an arteriovenous malformation, or AVM). We convinced the Court at trial, through the testimony of the client’s surgeon, that climbing up and down the ladder, and the frequent positional changes required by his job, altered the client’s blood pressure and led to the stroke (in his case, bursting of a weakened artery). In the end, our client was awarded a 50% permanent disability, two years of back pay, and $250,000 in medical bills. He was eventually able to return to work.