By Daniel Klosowski
Guest Writer
Woodruff Johnson & Palermo
Thursday, Nov. 14, 2013
Everyone knows that many jobs do not fall into the “9 to 5” category. Recently, Woodruff Johnson & Palermo law firm successfully represented a police officer who suffered a work related injury in his own garage, which is managed by injury attorneys in Porter County. We were able to show that even though the officer was not at the police station or on patrol at the time of the accident, his injury was a result of his employment and was covered under the Workers’ Compensation Act. However, if an accident leads to a fatal accident, you may contact the Las Vegas catastrophic injury lawyer to help you navigate the legal complexities in the aftermath of the accident. They will help you receive the rightful compensation you deserve.
Injured workers must show the accident they suffered “arose out of” and was “in the course of” their employment. For an injury to “arise out of” employment, its origins must be in some risk connected with, or incidental to, the employment. For an injury to be “in the course of” employment, it must occur within a period of employment, at a place where workers may reasonably be in the performance of their duties and while they are fulfilling those duties or engaged in something incidental to those duties.
In short, “in the course of” refers to the time, place and circumstances of the injury. In many situations, this burden is not difficult to prove. However, at other times, the circumstances of the accident are more complex. This was the case for the injured police officer. You can contact personal injury lawyers from Malloy Law Offices, LLC if you need to hire a lawyer to get started with the legalities. You should hire for a car accident claim
As part of his job, the officer maintained a duty bag. The office kept his helmet, gas masks, legal codes, ammunition, handcuffs, firearm, metal baton and a flashlight in the duty bag. This bag weighed approximately 40 pounds. The officer kept the bag with him at all times for safekeeping. When he was not on duty, he would keep the bag in his garage. The department allowed all officers to keep their duty bag with them when they were not on duty. When it comes to legal aid the family lawyers from Kelly White Donofrio LLP can help with all kinds of cases.
To prepare for his shift, the officer would move the duty bag from his garage to his personal vehicle, drive to the police station and then transfer the bag to his squad car. One morning, as the officer was lifting the bag from his garage’s floor into the trunk of his car, he felt a pop in his lower back and experienced immediate, excruciating pain. The officer had to crawl from his garage into his home. He saw an orthopedic doctor the next day and underwent spine surgery just two days after the accident.
The workers’ compensation carrier for the officer’s department denied all benefits. The carrier claimed since the injury happened at home, the officer was not entitled to benefits. Woodruff Johnson & Palermo was able to show the incident of lifting the duty bag — even though it happened at home — was an accident that arouse out of, and in the course of, the officer’s employment and this accident was the reason he needed surgery.
Even though the officer was at home when the injury occurred, the court decided that when the officer lifted the duty bag in his own garage, he was fulfilling his job duties and was performing an activity the department could reasonably expect him to be doing. The court added that because the officer could be needed at any time, it benefitted the department for the officer to keep the duty bag with him at home and transport it to work each day. These arguments persuaded the court to award workers’ compensation benefits to the officer.
As in this case, there are various unique situations that result in work-related accidents that are covered by the Workers’ Compensation Act. It is important to talk to an attorney with knowledge and experience in workers’ compensation in order to ensure that all benefits an injured worker is entitled to are recovered.