The Freibott Law Firm was recently successful in pursuing a claim on behalf of one our clients in the case of Lahowchic v. Mountaire Farms. The hearing in this case occurred on June 14, 2017 and was one of the most contentious hearings in which this firm has ever been involved. Our client was a 39 year old man who worked for Mountaire and alleged that he severely injured his back when a motorized pallet jack was pushed into a pallet of chicken that was then pushed into him. Our client was a healthy man, never having any problem with his back at any point in his life. The matter was captured on surveillance film; however, it was not of great quality but our firm was able to enlarge the film so that the visual quality was made better. The motorized pallet jack weight approximately 300 pounds and the pallet of chicken weighed approximately 2,500 pounds. What was seen in the video was the pallet jack being pushed into the pallet of chicken and, then, subsequently, the pallet of chicken being pushed into our client. The film only showed our client being pushed forward to a point where he almost fell onto the floor. There was an obstruction in the video which did not show the complete sequence of events. Approximately a half an hour later, our client began making complaints to officials at Mountaire. On cross examination, one of the managers was forced to admit that there were actual marks on our client’s back from where the pallet of chicken struck him. Our client proceeded to the emergency room where he was diagnosed to have a very large herniated disc in his low back which necessitated emergency surgery. Mountaire denied this claim from the beginning and fought every step of the way to deny our client the benefits that he should have received from day one. In the end, the Industrial Accident Board found that our client was credible; his witnesses were credible; his medical expert witness, Dr. Meyers, was credible and that Dr. Gelman, the defense doctor, was not credible The Industrial Accident Board awarded ongoing total disability benefits beginning the day of the incident; reimbursement of all medical expenses that our client has incurred to date including his surgical bills to the back; reimbursement to our firm of Dr. Meyers’ expert witness fee; and the Industrial Accident Board awarded the maximum attorney’s fee possible. (Lahowchic v. Mountaire Farms,Hearing No.: 1451361Date of Decision: June 27, 2017)
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