Work Injury Settlement

[KennyV]

I was injured on the job about a year ago and have had three operations thus far. I was out on compensation three times with the last outage being 4 months in length. I returned about three weeks ago on restricted duty with a tentative full duty release date of within two months. This (release date) was a stipulation required by the company before letting me return to work. The corporate medical director at my company has said that if I am unable to perform my regular job functions at the time of my release that I will be forced back out on compensation. Now, if this happens, and the company tries to give me a lump sum settlement, can I also sue for something else being Pa. law only requires a company to pay a maximum of 12 years compensation? I mean, my life is basically ruined due to this shoulder injury so why if I'm forced to take a settlement can I not recover damages for having to live the rest of my life not being able to do the things I enjoy doing. Is there anything I can go after them with and recover damages for all my pain and suffering and having my well paying work career ruined due to their negligence??

 

[PapaSmurf]

KV- Unless you can show, in a courtroom, that a third party, say a contractor was at fault, or the injury was intentional, you'll only be able to recover under the W/C system. Am I correct in thinking that your attorney told you the same?

 

[KennyV]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Arial, Helvetica, Verdana">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by PapaSmurf:
KV- Unless you can show, in a courtroom, that a third party, say a contractor was at fault, or the injury was intentional, you'll only be able to recover under the W/C system. Am I correct in thinking that your attorney told you the same?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Well, it was a piece of equipment designed by a third party that caused my injury BUT our plant maintanence guys modify the item after receiving them, then put them into use. The problem here is that our guys did not specifically follow the installation instructions from the manufacturer and hooked the item on with some sort of stainless wire instead of heavy duty pins that are required. Needless to say the wire failed and the item weighing 60 pounds fell 40 feet onto me! My plant is severely understaffed and there is no safety person to monitor the work after it's finished to make sure it's done right. It sure seems intentional here to me for this reason alone! These companies are well aware of the comp. rules here in Pa. so they understaff the places because they know if anything happens the law is in favor of them!

Something is not right here! Once again, the little guy suffers!