Quote of the day
"Really, what I am is retired. I'm not on disability; I'm retired."
James A. Weaver, former Iowa judge who collects nearly $5,000 per month in disability benefits while running a private law office
Troubled Iowa Judge’s Unusual Arrangement: Disabled Retiree and Working Lawyer
A retired Muscatine, Iowa judge collects $4,900 per month from the state in disability benefits related to depression and alcoholism while he runs a private law office and works for the state as a court-appointed criminal defense attorney. How can one arm of the state declare him unfit to be a judge, while another pays him to represent poor defendants? By Clark Kauffman, Des Moines Register [With Photo] Go to the Full Story…
Permanently Disabled Player Better Off Than Many
Partially-paralyzed former pro football player Jeff Fuller is one of the lucky ones, relatively speaking. He is self-sufficient and, due to the generosity of former San Francisco 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo Jr., he collects about $100,000 annually for the rest of his life from an annuity, but he’s among those who say the league could do more for injured former players. By Ron Kroichick, San Francisco Chronicle
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Maimed Kentucky Worker Mulls Agonizing Options
A 39-year-old Kentucky worker who lost both arms in a drywall shredder accident faces a scary dilemma: accept modest workers’ compensation benefits as a single parent with a teenage son to raise, or reject workers’ comp and face the nearly insurmountable burden of suing his former employer. The Kentucky Supreme Court held in 2004 that knowingly putting an employee in deadly harm’s way is not enough to win a lawsuit. By Andrew Wolfson, Louisville Courier-Journal
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Commentary: Workers’ Comp a Bigger Issue Than Some Realize
South Carolina Republican lawmaker Bill Sandifer contends that only a major overhaul can save the Palmetto State’s troubled workers’ compensation system, and he worries that many people fail to realize that workers’ comp is more than a business issue: it has a trickle-down effect that causes higher costs, lower wages and fewer jobs. Anderson Independent Mail
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Illegal Worker Maimed by Chainsaw, Then Deported
An illegal alien tree services worker who suffered gruesome facial injuries when a chainsaw kicked back and struck him never got his day in court: he says his “obviously amused” former employer, who didn’t provide protective gear or workers’ compensation insurance, called immigration officials to the courthouse the day of the workers’ comp hearing to get the worker deported to Mexico. By Karen Lee Ziner, Providence Journal
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Editorial: New York Lawyers Want Status Quo for Scaffold Law
New York’s so-called “Scaffold Law,” which holds owners of a construction site absolutely liable when a worker is injured as the result of a fall, or something falling on the worker, even if the worker contributed to the injury, is a big moneymaker for trial lawyers. That’s why they are trying to block the appointment to the Assembly Insurance Committee of a Democratic assemblyman who backs a bill that would end the law. By Brian Sampson, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
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