Norfolk, VA
Workers compensation Lawyer at Norfolk, VA
Practice Areas: Workers Compensation, Personal Injury, Wrongful Death
OUTCOME: Settlement at Mediation
Joe Miller recently secured a settlement for a paraplegic, which included a cash payout in excess of $800,000.00, plus a Medicare Set-Aside of over $400,000.00, plus monthly payments of close to $3000. ... 00 for life.
OUTCOME: $1.5 Million settlement
Painter injured when elevator malfunctioned and fell several feet. We overcame a hard-fought motion to dismiss and obtained a $1.5 Million settlement at mediation.
OUTCOME: $1.6 Million Settlement
Worker was Injured when run over by truck from another company.
OUTCOME:
We are pleased to report a recent victory for our client in DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES/COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA v. JOHNICAL M. OWENS, Record No. 0377-13-11, COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA, AUGUST 6, 2 ... 013. Ms. Owens was in two separate car accidents, both while she was on the job for the Commonwealth of Virginia. We represented her for the first accident. On the second accident, Ms. Owens represented herself, and reached a small settlement with the car insurance company on her own. Unfortunately, she did not make anyone, including her workers compensation insurance company— or us— aware that she has reached that settlement or been in a second car accident. As we moved forward with her case in the first accident, it came to our attention that she had been in this second accident. When deposing her main treating physician to obtain evidence for use at trial, it became clear that the doctor would only testify that Ms. Owens’ injuries before the second accident were related to the first accident. The doctor was of the opinion that any treatment after the second accident was not related to the first accident at all. Despite this evidence, and despite making that evidence available to the workers compensation carrier, the comp carrier was adamant that they wanted reimbursement on the entirety of the money they had paid, on both accidents, from the first accident. We refused to pay that money to them. We figured up what the comp carrier was entitled to under the law and held that amount back in escrow from the settlement. Afterwards, the comp carrier, through the Attorney General’s office, filed an action against Ms. Owens in the Workers Compensation Commission, alleging she had settled the second accident without consulting or giving notice to the comp carrier, and accordingly, the carrier should be entitled to a credit for all monies paid that were related to the second accident. Since we did not represent Ms. Owens on the second accident, we did not become involved. The carrier won their credit. The credit merely means that if Ms. Owens is ever injured again at work, that money must be paid back to the comp carrier out of any settlement or other money Ms. Owens may be entitled to. Once we received word that that carrier obtained their money on the second accident, we went ahead and released the funds to cover their workers comp lien on the first accident. Did this satisfy the comp carrier? Of course not. The Virginia Attorney General’s office then filed another action against Ms. Owens for the first accident, claiming the Commonwealth should be reimbursed and receive more credit, not only for treatment for the first accident, but for additional treatment after the second accident as well, even though they had already had an opportunity to recover those funds. This time we did get involved, and we successfully convinced the Deputy Commissioner, the Full Commission and the Virginia Court of Appeals that this attempt by the comp carrier to claim two chunks of credit was patently unfair to Ms. Owens. The comp carrier already knew that the treating doctor wouldn’t say that treatment after the second accident was related to the first. We had let the comp carrier know that. Despite this, the comp carrier had tried to ‘take another bite at the apple’ and get more money for treatment that the doctor had clearly said was not related. The Commission didn’t buy it and said the employer and the carrier were not entitled to do that. The Commission ruled that we had already paid the comp carrier exactly what they were due and they were not entitled to a penny more. They denied any further credit to the employer or comp carrier, which, in this case, was the Commonwealth of Virginia.
OUTCOME: We settled our client’s case with the employer and workers compensation insurance company for a substantial sum of money
Richmond, Va., October, 2013. Our client had been treating with a doctor for injuries to his right knee that he suffered on the job when he fell into a hole. He underwent two surgeries, but went back t ... o work as a machine operator after each. He continued to have difficulties at work because of his knee injury, including issues with his knee ‘giving way.’ Despite this, his doctor came to the opinion in his records that the current knee problems were due to pre-existing problems and were not related to the injury on the job. Therefore, the workers comp carrier refused to pay for any more treatment of the knee. We became involved in the claim and our client chose a new doctor who stated that the current problems were due, at least in part, to the injury on the job. That is all that is required under Virginia Law to make the claim compensable. We went to a Hearing and won. We took the deposition of the original treating doctor who had said the injuries were unrelated to the work accident. We took the time to explain the law to the doctor. He then realized he had made a mistake in his notes and gave the opinion under oath that the current problems were due— at least in part— to the original work injury. The Deputy Commissioner found that since the employer had wrongfully denied further treatment, they were required to pay for the new doctor chosen by our client, and further for all future treatment related to the knee injury. The employer appealed that decision to the Full Commission and we won there as well. The Full Commission upheld the opinion of the Deputy Commissioner in our client’s favor. We subsequently settled our client’s case with the employer and workers compensation insurance company for a substantial sum of money.
OUTCOME: We negotiated a full and final settlement
May 2012 – Norfolk, VA – We negotiated a full and final settlement on behalf of a Spanish-speaking construction worker whose right leg was run over by a front end loader. His leg and ankle were crushed ... as the wheel rolled over them. After multiple surgeries, intense pain, and over a year of treatment, doctors believe his leg and ankle are as recovered as they will ever be. He will likely always have to wear an ankle brace, but the settlement money we obtained for him will allow him to re-establish himself and begin a new career.
OUTCOME: The Deputy Commissioner Awarded the claimant his back pay for almost a year as well as payment for ongoing medical treatment.
October, 2014, Virginia Beach, VA. Joe Miller won another hearing before a deputy Commissioner of the Virginia Workers Compensation Commission for a 47-year old property maintenance worker who was inj ... ured when he fell back on a cart and injured his neck. The defendants denied the claim due to the fact that the claimant did not initially report or treat the injury as a work injury. The claimant’s initial reports to the ER did not mention a work injury. The claimant just knew that he had neck and arm pain which was getting worse and worse. The claimant eventually saw an Orthopedic Surgeon, approximately two months after the incident. After ordering and reviewing a neck MRI, the Orthopedic Surgeon concluded that the claimant had suffered a severe traumatic injury to his neck that needed surgery. When questioned about how the claimant could have injured his neck, the claimant recalled how he had fallen on the cart at work two months prior. A deposition of the Orthopedic Surgeon was taken to obtain the proper opinions to prove the claim and after reading the deposition and hearing the testimony of the claimant and other witnesses, the Deputy Commissioner Awarded the claimant his back pay for almost a year as well as payment for ongoing medical treatment.
OUTCOME: Six-Figure Settlement
October, 2014, Raleigh, NC. Joe Miller negotiated a substantial, six-figure settlement for a 49-year old construction worker who required a lumbar fusion surgery. In addition to the settlement, over ... the course two years of representing the client, much of the medical care was disputed, denied, or improperly delayed by the workers compensation insurance company. This required Mr. Miller and his team to prepare, file, and be heard at several hearings before the Industrial Commission. All the hearings were won by Mr. Miller and the client was able to maintain the medical care he needed during the pendency of his case.
OUTCOME: Six Figure Settlement
Suffolk, VA, September, 2014. Joe Miller Obtained a six-figure settlement at mediation for a 79-year-old truck driver who was injured while picking up his loaded trailer from a North Carolina factory. ... After hooking his cab to the trailer, upon attempting to check on the trailer contents, one of the rear doors flung open, knocking the client several feet into the air and causing him to suffer a severe fracture to his arm. We filed suit against the factory company, and claimed that the product inside the trailer, which was packed into large bags which each weighed over 900 pounds, was wedged against the rear doors of the trailer, causing them to suddenly and unexpectedly fling open. This was because the large bags or totes were negligently stacked and loaded in an unsafe manner, in violation of OSHA regulations.
OUTCOME: Six-Figure Settlement
Norfolk, VA, July, 2014 Joe Miller obtained a six-figure settlement for a Certified Nursing Assistant who was injured when she attempted to assist one of her patients who needed help while showering. ... The client was initially referred by the employer and workers compensation insurance carrier to company doctors and therapists, who dismissed the client’s complaints of horrific pain as either fantasy or faking. Upon getting in to see a pain specialist, the client was referred for appropriate diagnostic tests, and the true cause of the client’s disabling pain was identified. She had obviously not been faking, it’s just that her treating doctors refused, either purposely or negligently, to obtain the appropriate diagnostic tests. Her case settled at mediation for a substantial sum prior to hearing.