Union Electrician Wins $500K Settlement After Company Doctor Proven Not Credible
In April of 2002, a union electrician suffered a career-ending injury after losing his balance while lifting a 150-pound ladder over his head.
Horwitz accused the physician of violating the ethical rules of the American Medical Association and other professional standards because he was neither independent nor objective in his testimony, as the law demands. Furthermore, he had potentially lied under oath.
The initial injury to his thoracic spine developed into a disabling and painful condition affecting the connective tissue covering the muscles. As a result he is unable to walk fully upright. There is no surgery that would cure his condition, so he relies on morphine daily to control the pain.
In 2004, while under the ongoing care of his personal physicians—who had not released him to return to work—the employer sent him for an evaluation by their appointed physician. Despite his continued chronic pain and disabilities, and with total disregard for his treating physician’s opinion, the insurance company’s physician released him to return to full duty.
This was, of course, impossible for the electrician. He was soon fired and his disability benefits stopped. Squeezed financially and in constant pain despite medication, the electrician’s overall condition declined rapidly.
Insurance companies are well aware of the devastating consequences faced by injured workers who have been denied their benefits while also facing unyielding pain and mounting medical bills. They know that a desperate Plaintiff will often accept a low settlement against his or her own best interest in order to meet their overwhelming financial and medical needs. And if the injured worker has a less-than-motivated or inexperienced attorney representing him, the insurance company can almost taste their victory.
The electrician’s first attorney soon obtained such a low-ball settlement offer in the amount of $45,000. Despite the severity of his injuries, his physical disability and possibility of permanent damage, his first attorney instructed him to take that low offer.
The electrician, however, refused to sign the settlement papers, fired his first attorney, and began his search for new representation. He ultimately contacted Horwitz, Horwitz and Associates, Ltd.
Workers’ Compensation attorney Mitch Horwitz recalls their first meeting. “I met with him, listened to his story, believed him and took his case.”
As the years passed, he continued to receive therapy, including orthopedic treatment for the myofascial pain disorder and pain management. When pre-trial testimony began, two of his treating physicians testified that the electrician was totally disabled.
The employer’s star witness, a physician hired to evaluate the Plaintiff, testified that aspects of his condition and disability were, in fact, not related to the 2002 accident. But the physician’s own documentation would reveal disturbing evidence undermining the truth of his testimony.
Three days prior to his testimony on behalf of the employer, the physician had written a 10-page document providing the employer’s attorney with specific prepared questions to ask him, as well as his prepared answers to those questions. Attorney Mitch Horwitz managed to obtain a copy of this dubious document twenty-four hours before the physician testified.
Horwitz grilled the physician under oath, asking multiple times for disclosure of all the documents he had generated for this case. Each time the physician failed to disclose the unethical document in question.
When ultimately confronted with the actual document itself, the physician admitted to writing it, but attempted to justify making misstatements under oath because he didn’t intend for it to be shared with the Horwitz legal team. Mitch Horwitz wasn’t supposed to know it existed. The employer’s team had tried to keep him in the dark, to no avail.
Horwitz accused the physician of violating the ethical rules of the American Medical Association and other professional standards because he was neither independent nor objective in his testimony, as the law demands. Furthermore, he had potentially lied under oath.
Trial was to begin six weeks later on March 11, 2010. However, it was not in the best interest of the employer or their insurance company to proceed given the tainted testimony of their “star” medical witness.
Instead, the employer agreed to pay a settlement of $500,000—over ten times the original offer the injured electrician was advised to take by his first attorney—as well as all medical bills related to his injuries.
“The employer forced our client to fight for benefits that were legally due him, causing him added suffering.” Horwitz stated, adding, “The behavior of the Defendant’s legal team and their physician-witness was an attempted miscarriage of justice, and in the end, their undoing.””