Christian Michael Petrucci’s Answers

Unless, as Richard pointed out, this is a hearing following an "Employee Challenge," your payments should not have stopped to begin with. Checks should resume immediately, but you may need an attorney to push the issue.

Unfortunately, pain and suffering damages are not an element of a workers' compensation award. I would contact a workers' compensation attorney right away and not attempt to negotiate with the carrier unrepresented.

I have been handling a good deal of Social Security cases for over 15 years. Feel free to contact me at (215) 545-0330.

Each situation is very fact specific. If your attorney does not handle third party cases, you should ask for a referral to an attorney who does. Both attorneys should work together to identify the responsible party.

The answer to this question will largely depend on what documents, if any, the insurance company has filed with the Bureau of Workers' Compensation. The issue is whether the case was accepted with a Notice of Compensation Payable or a Notice of TEMPORARY Compensation Payable. Since the payments went beyond 90 days, if I read your question correctly, it may very well be a penalty situation if no other documents were filed. More information is needed.

Tragically, your situation is not uncommon. While there is some merit to the idea that you do not want to "bother" the judge, there is often no harm having your attorney discretely contact the judge's office for a status.

Each state's workers' compensation law treats individuals who have a permanent partial disability differently. Essentially, you are asking what "total body impairment" percentage does the Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, Sixth Edition provide. This largely depends on the doctor performing the evaluation, since there is a bit of subjectivity to the percentages. While you can attempt to read the Guides yourself, you should defer to a physician trained in the 6th Edition of the...