Posted on 07/20/2018 5:39:37 AM PDT by reaganaut1
After nearly two decades on the force, former LAPD Officer Jonathan Hall ended his career the way many veteran officers do these days, claiming job-related injuries across most of his body.
With the help of a boutique Van Nuys law firm that specializes in workers’ compensation cases for cops and firefighters, Hall filed claims saying he’d injured his knees, hips, heart (high blood pressure), back, right shoulder — even his right middle finger.
The ailments had existed for months, in some cases years, and had not previously prevented him from working, Hall said in a recent interview. But he was burned out, the target of an internal affairs investigation and desperate to avoid going back to the station.
“I just couldn’t put the uniform back on,” Hall said.
Hall’s timing raised suspicion, and he was soon videotaped leading scuba dives and lifting heavy equipment despite the alleged injuries.
But he’s far from alone in asserting that so many parts of his body had been injured on the job.
In fact, claims involving at least five injured body parts have become by far the most common in California, according to a Times data analysis of millions of workers’ compensation cases spanning nearly three decades.
In the past, injuries to a single body part — a knee, a shoulder, the lower back — were the most prevalent, the data show.
That changed abruptly in the mid-2000s when then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger pushed through legislation that drastically lowered the amount that can be paid out in benefits for each injured body part.
Lawyers for injured workers responded by simply increasing the number of body parts per claim, said Paul Young, an attorney who was a partner at two high-profile Los Angeles-area law firms that represent cops and firefighters.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
I broke my hip at work. The fix changed mt gate and I can no longer do that job. Have been label led partially permanently disabled
I’m not a suing kind of person but the company’s insurer has a hack lawyer who hired a hack doctor who saw me for 15 minutes and declared me fit for full duty. Had to get a lawyer to protect my rights.
So we’ll have a big lawyer pissing contest that will cost the company lots of money that they could have saved
A man left the court in his wheelchair with a compensation payment of half a million dollars. The insurance detectives followed him down the street. “You won’t get away with this fraud,” said one of them. “We will be watching you for the rest of your life.”
“No problem ,” the man replied, “You can watch all you like. You can watch me go on my world trip . You can watch me in Lourdes and you can watch, with your own eyes, one hell of a miracle.”
Sounds like my brother-in-law. Hasn’t worked in thirty five years due to a high school football injury he later passed off as a military injury.
Yet he could work on a car, roof a house, rebuild a camper, then when someone showed up wanting to talk to him, he grabbed the cane, and hobbled out to meet them as if he was on his last legs. When they left, he threw the cane in the corner and went back to whatever he was doing.
His poor wife worked like a dog at menial jobs to keep the family fed. When she retired she tried to draw on hubby’s social security. He had not worked long enough in the last thirty years for her to draw anything, so she ended up collecting a small SS check for her own labor.
We had a guy who claim 100% disability for a back injury for falling. We set him up and invited him to a ski weekend for employees. He went. Then went to jail.
I know of two such, former Military persons that will soon be collecting disability checks. One is definitely a self inflicted neck injury that he caused himself by using two hands to twist his neck when he was tired or just bored.
I told him he would pay one day for the self abuse. Looks like I’m the stupid one because he is now planning to collect. The percentage can go up to 100% and eventually entitle him to free property taxes, government checks, etc.
Are there former military people that need compensation?
Yes, of course, but the leeches that steal from the program, with impunity and go unpunished, need to be stopped.
I’d be willing to bet that 80% or more of these claims, especially by police and firemen close to retirement are fraudulent.
For every vet taking advantage, there’s another being denied for legitimate claims. I always thought it was a bad system and that I’d never use it, but it’s all we’ve got.
Few veterans make it a whole a career without taking some physical toll, so it should be covered. Their risk and exposure is much higher than the general population. If you lose your hearing, mobility or general health due to service, there’s no shame in getting benefits.
If you’re scamming the system, you should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. (Not directing that last to you).
On the civilian side, Fire and police workers are some of the worst offenders, so it makes it tough on those who have legitimate claims. It’s been this way forever. Laws only work for honest people, and I’m afraid those seem to be fewer each year.
Joe Friday would not commit these crimes.
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