Our client was a fifty year old man who sustained injury during the course of his employment as a hands-on production supervisor working at his employers metal press production company as a result of the gradual onset of pain in both shoulders due to the repetitive nature of his work of a period of five years.
Our client lodged a Workers Compensation claim which was accepted and he received payment of his weekly benefits for time off work as well as payment of his medical expenses.
Within two years of his injuries, our client underwent surgery on his left shoulder and in the subsequent year surgery on his right shoulder.
After his condition had stabilised following his last surgery, we arranged for our client to be assessed by one of our medico-legal orthopaedic surgeons who assessed him as having a 22% whole person impairment as a result of both shoulder injuries and consequential operations.
Fortunately, the Workers Compensation insurer agreed with our doctor’s assessment and our client received a lump sum settlement of $35,750. He also continued to receive payment of his ongoing medical treatmentexpenses in addition to weekly benefits for time off work and make up pay for periods when he had returned to work but on reduced hours.
Following the settlement of our client’s whole person impairment claim, our client was in a position to consider bringing a Work Injury Damages claim as her level of whole person impairment exceeded the 15% whole person impairment threshold.
We therefore arranged for our liability expert consultant engineer to prepare a report in support of our client’s case and obtained further updated medical evidence from our client’s treating doctors and our medico-legal orthopaedic surgeon.
After we had provided the insurer with the necessary Section 282 Particulars of the claim and served our Pre-Filing Statement we then made arrangements for our Application for Mediation for a Work Injury Damages Claim to be lodged with the Workers Compensation Commission.
Over the years our client’s shoulder symptoms improved but he still suffered from ongoing residual effects of these injuries and consequently he was able to find lighter work with an alternate employer but at a slightly lower rate of pay.
At mediation we were able to successfully negotiate a settlement of our client’s Work Injury Damages claim for $275,000.
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