Attorney Timothy James Kennedy's Legal Cases

Workers compensation

Medical Leave Properly Compensated Under Workers Compensation Act

Jun 07, 2023

OUTCOME: Paid benefits for more than a year of treatment and recovery followed by a $115,000 lump sum settlement for entry level delivery driver.

The employer approved a medical leave for their employee after an injury caused him symptoms too severe to allow him to perform the employer's "light duty" position. The employer approved the (unpaid) ... medical leave, but completely disregarded the injured worker's right to wage loss benefits while he was out. They then denied his claim on the argument that they had light duty available which they felt he could do. They used substantial surveillance footage to try to attack the Claimant's credibility. We presented evidence that they operated under a double standard: time off work being regarded as justified by the worker's medical condition for purposes of medical leave, yet not justified to bind them to compensate the claimant for wage loss under the workers compensation laws (on their argument that light duty was available). The employer sought to have it both ways: with the injured worker off their books since he could not be truly productive, yet not having to afford him benefits for lost wages under the Workers Compensation Act. We stopped them in their tracks and forced them to honor the claim and pay related wage loss and medical billing, all in the initial round of litigation. Months later, the employer and insurer sought to stop our client's benefits after an "insurance medical examination" (which insurers falsely phrase as an "independent medical examination") provided them with the opinion the claimant had "fully recovered." The well-credentialed medical specialists we referred the claimant too offered strong disagreement. Our position in that litigation prevailed, once again, to the point the employer and its workers compensation insurer were made to pay out an additional six figures as settlement.

Workers compensation

Hernia Injury with Surgery Complications

Feb 23, 2023

OUTCOME: Lump sum settlement valued at several years of compensation benefits, plus lifetime funding for medical treatment via self administered Medicare Set-Aside.

Claimant had treatment with multiple providers, including regional specialists in different states, and a complicated profile for the medical support where no one doctor was well-positioned to support ... all elements of causation, diagnosis and disability. We carefully monitored the treatment course, made referrals to well-credentialed experts who were able and willing to be advocates for their patient, and fought through several battles in the workers compensation courts on varying issues, each time coming out on top. We ultimately secured a settlement that met the client's lifetime needs.

Workers compensation

Quick Results to Greatly Increase Settlement

May 13, 2016

OUTCOME: Settlement value bumped by tens of thousands and a timely deal for claimant.

Claimant came to us with an offer already made by the adjuster, hoping to buy more time or a better deal. We learned the insurer was well on its way in gathering evidence to show claimant was able to r ... eturn to light duty work in a "funded employment" scheme -- a rare scenario where the insurer creates a tailor-made position accommodating all conceivable work restrictions and arranges for an outside contractor to fund the wages. The goal is to remove every obstacle to the claimant's return to work, but the effect is to essentially make the claimant work for their benefits, even if in pain every day, with no hope of any job advancement, no career, and no job security. Such scheme also presents a huge risk to the claimant where the "employer" funding from the insurer is highly likely to stop after the claimant starts, just as soon as the claimant has been back at "work" long enough for the insurance carrier to stop workers comp benefits. This can leave the claimant with no wages and no WC benefits -- forcing the claimant to begin a long fight to reinstate workers' compensation, while left without benefits for a span of months. Job offers for two different "funded employment" situations were soon made. We advised our client to respond to the offers in a way that highlighted the unfairness of what the insurer was attempting to do and blocked the insurer from arguing that our client had refused the positions in "bad faith". We highlighted weaknesses in the insurer's evidence to put our client in a position of strength to allow us to negotiate a settlement that truly worked for her. Time became an issue when our client advised that family circumstances compelled her to seek to move to a new state, which in her situation would have a huge negative impact on her claim. We had to move fast, before the insurer recognized that she had placed her home on the market. Despite all of these pressures, we got the deal our client wanted, substantially increasing the amount of the settlement previously offered by the insurer.

Workers compensation

Six Figure Settlement for Ankle Fracture

May 12, 2016

OUTCOME: 110,000.00 Settlement plus disputed medical billing.

Claimant had an ankle injury initially diagnosed as a fracture, treated with a period of casting and immobilization. The claimant reported continued pain when spending too much time on her feet and our ... firm obtained supportive testimony from a treating medical specialist when the insurance company's IME physician claimed the injury was resolved, only a few months into the claim. The insurer attempted to terminate benefits through litigation. As the record neared a close, the deciding Judge sent strong signals that he was favoring the evidence presented by our office, allowing us to pressure the defendant for a settlement of more than $100,000.00, plus payment of disputed medical billing.

Workers compensation

$90,000 Settlement for Back Strain Injury

Mar 26, 2013

OUTCOME: $90,000 for a low wage earner, after effective mediation

Our client suffered a strain to her neck and low back with an awkward lifting event at work in December 2011. Her diagnostic testing was not strong, and the defendant employer and workers compensation ... insurance carrier tried to limit her rights by pushing her back to work in various light duty categories that made sense to their doctors, but which, in reality, caused our client to have constant and worsening symptoms. We worked to advance our client's rights on all fronts, and took the case to a "mandatory mediation" with well honed and well-supported arguments directed at securing for our client a truly full value settlement, despite the obstacles in the medical support. We were able to convince the mediating judge to give us the "benefit of the doubt" and to gain support for a full value deal. By this mechanism, the defendant was brought along to the point of a settlement not much to their liking, but grudgingly agreed, to the great satisfaction of our client.

Workers compensation

Lump Sum of $178,464.00 in WC Litigation

Feb 25, 2013

OUTCOME: $178,464 Lump Sum and a Very Happy Client

Prior to coming to us, our client -- a very genial out-of-stater who was injured while working on assignment in PA -- had only treated with insurance company referred medical providers. This skewed al ... l of his medical support substantially toward the insurer. It was a further problem because he was out of state, half a country away, and the doctors in his home state were wary of unfamiliar PA workers' compensation insurance as the client's only potential payment source for medical billing. When we first spoke, the insurance carrier was only a half step away from cutting off all of his compensation rights, and making him feel he had no options other than a very low end settlement. We helped him work through the obstacles to his claim, gaining medical support, advising him how to handle insurer-referred doctors and case managers, and in multiple ways demonstrating to the defendant insurance adjuster that we would make it very hard for them to deprive our out-of-state client of his rights under PA law. In the end, they saw things our way, paying our client a full value lump sum settlement to end their exposure and to allow him to move into a long-awaited semi-retirement with a substantial nest egg compensating him for his lost earning potential.

Workers compensation

Six Figure Make-Over

Jan 11, 2013

OUTCOME: $100,000 lump sum and a new beginning

Our client came to us deeply anxious, depressed and at wits end with residuals from a traumatic work injury. The injury was documented by the employer and their insurance carrier only as a "head/face ... contusion", but the client felt she had related cognitive deficits and other health effects not credited by the employer. Meanwhile, the employer was keeping her in a "light duty" job she truly found intolerable, where she wasn't wanted and where she was treated as a burden by her employer due to her injury-related limitations. She could not get treatment she truly needed, due to the very limited accepted "description of injury." We set her up with appropriate doctors willing to work with us, and gave her advice and guidance in dealing with her employer, while we took over dealing with the insurance representatives. Soon she was released from the "light duty" yoke and receiving weekly compensation checks which were very nearly at her full pre-injury wage rate. We then pressed our advantage and were able to secure a full value, six figure settlement. With the treatment she needed, the support we provided, and the full and fair final result of her claim, her life was truly dramatically transformed and she has a great start on a new beginning.

Personal injury

$300,000.00 Motor Vehicle Settlement

Oct 30, 2012

OUTCOME: $300,000 MVA Recovery

This case involved a commercial driver struck from the rear at a railroad crossing. Despite minor damage to his vehicle, and an unimpressive time-lapse film of the collision event, our client had subs ... tantial neurological complaints beginning almost immediately, for which he ultimately had surgery. After first obtaining workers' compensation benefits totaling $195,000, including a substantial lump sum settlement, we proceeded to advance our client's motor vehicle accident claim. Careful trial preparation and aggressive early litigation tactics allowed us to secure fully $300,000 from the defendant driver's insurance company -- the full limits of their available coverage.

Workers compensation

Treatment Outside PA for $167,500 Lump Sum Settlement

May 15, 2012

OUTCOME: $167,500 lump sum - SIX TIMES the offer to claimant

Our client's injury was a fractured scapula. It had largely resolved by the time he called us, but still limited from the most strenuous demands of his pre-injury profession in a heavy labor field. H ... e lived outside Pennsylvania and had difficulty finding any treatment with a provider wiling to bill a PA workers' compensation carrier and put up with their refusals to pre-authorize any medical work-up. He initially called us to discuss the wisdom of settlement terms he had negotiated with the insurance company before our involvement. Specifically, the insurance company proposed to pay him $28,000 for a full settlement of his rights. We explained that this was the kind of bad deal insurers typically try to hoist upon unrepresented claimants, and agreed to help him. We sprang to action, first solving the problems with the client's weak medical support, showing the employer's workers compensation insurer they would have a tough battle, then negotiating a full value settlement at $167,500.00 -- nearly SIX TIMES the figure the insurer carrier was prepared to advance before our office took the case.

Workers compensation

$100,000 Inguinal Hernia, Plus Some

Jan 25, 2012

OUTCOME: Lump Sum in Excess of $120,000 for Open Claims

We took over this claim from another law firm where the client felt they were working too hard to convince him his claim had only a low-end value. Like the earlier firm, we were concerned that the med ... ical support indicated only minor restrictions, where the employer had aggressive return to work policies for forced light duty. Through increased communication with the client we learned that some of his concerns stemmed from a prior work injury with the same employer, and how he had been treated in his prior return to work. Further investigation showed that the earlier claim was still open, and we were able to secure related treatment for our client, which also increased our leverage in the more recent case. When we stood up firmly to the employer's attempts to limit our client's rights, the result was a $100,000 settlement for his hernia injury and two additional five figure settlements for each of two other still open claims with the same employer.

Timothy James Kennedy's Legal Cases (20)

Medical Leave Properly Compensated Under Workers Compensation Act

Hernia Injury with Surgery Complications

Quick Results to Greatly Increase Settlement

Six Figure Settlement for Ankle Fracture

$90,000 Settlement for Back Strain Injury

Lump Sum of $178,464.00 in WC Litigation

Six Figure Make-Over

$300,000.00 Motor Vehicle Settlement

Treatment Outside PA for $167,500 Lump Sum Settlement

$100,000 Inguinal Hernia, Plus Some