The Freibott Law Firm was recently successful in its prosecution of a case on behalf of one of its clients. This case was a very contentious case. Our client worked as a rehabilitation counselor for the State of Delaware. Our client injured his right knee on several occasions while working for the State. Subsequently, our client underwent four surgeries for his right knee, the last being a total right knee replacement. After our client’s third right knee surgery in July of 2015, he began having trouble with walking. He limped constantly and began to weight bear all of his weight onto his left leg. Our client noted that his left knee began to snap, crack, pop, and became painful.Our client began complaining about these left knee symptoms in the summer of 2015 and he was eventually advised that he know needed left knee surgery. The issue became whether or not his left knee symptoms were related to the original right knee work injuries because of his constant limping and weight bearing onto his left leg. Claimant’s expert, Dr. Stephen Dellose, testified that but for the injury to his right knee, our client would not have had problems with the left knee. The Industrial Accident Board held that the right knee problems provided the settings and trigger for our client’s left knee problems. Moreover, the Industrial Accident Board found that our client’s left knee condition was aggravated and accelerated from an asymptomatic to symptomatic condition due to the overcompensation and weight bearing onto his left knee. Accordingly, the Industrial Accident Board found that the left knee condition was in fact causally related to the right knee work injuries sustained in March of 2013 and May of 2014. The opinion of the defense expert, Dr. Samuel Matz, was found not to be persuasive and reliable. As a result, the Industrial Accident Board granted our Petition to seek Additional Compensation Due for our client to causally relate the left knee condition to the compensable right knee problems. The Industrial Accident Board ordered the State of Delaware to pay an attorney’s fee based on our results obtained for our client and further ordered the State of Delaware to pay for our client’s medical expert fee. (Everline v. State of Delaware,Hearing No.: 1414648 Date of Decision: November 10, 2016)
Related posts