Our client had sustained an injury during the course of his employment doing landscape duties and outdoor maintenance for his employer.
The injury had not involved a fall or a particular incident but rather extensive and prolonged shifts using gardening machinery with minimal rest and long hours. As a result of this, the constant and repetitive use of the machinery had led to a spinal injury involving the neck.
Our client was then required to undergo a serious surgical procedure being a fusion to his neck. As a result of this, he obviously attracted a very high impairment rating and also exhibited significant symptoms which prevented him from returning to gainful employment.
In the workers compensation system, compensation is generally those including payments of medical treatment, weekly compensation and lump sum benefits for the impairment. These are the main forms of entitlements in compensation though there can be others which include domestic assistance.
In addition to the above, if an injured worker satisfies an impairment rating of 15% whole person impairment, the worker may also consider pursuing a work injury damages claim (common law negligent claim). In order to pursue a work injury damages claim, a worker is not only required to show an impairment rating of 15% whole person impairment but also needs to show that the injury was sustained as a result of the employer’s negligence and also that the injury itself has caused an incapacity to work which has led to economic loss.
Fortunately for this very pleasant client of ours, the workers compensation insurer had accepted liability and made contributions towards payments of weekly compensation, medical expenses and a lump sum payout for his impairment. The insurer had also agreed to pay further damages in a work injury damages claim in favour of our client.
At Gerard Malouf & Partners, we followed the appropriate steps to ensure that our client was fully compensated at each avenue of his claim. Throughout the claim, until the conclusion, our client continued to be appropriately compensated for his entitlements and this was achieved through the ongoing support from his lawyers here at GMP Lawyers.
Once the matter was finally closed, the insurer had paid compensation in favour of our client to the value of slightly over $500,000.00.
At GMP Lawyers when considering compensation, we do not only concern ourselves with the compensation that our clients’ receive in their pockets, but also concern ourselves with ensuring our client’s do not suffer from out of pocket expenses. Our job at Gerard Malouf & Partners is to ensure that our clients have a monetary benefit which means a monetary gain and also avoidance in having to pay any expenses in the process.
