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Berman & Russo Wins Supreme Court Appeal Expanding Rights of Injured Workers
In June 2010, the South Windsor law firm of Berman & Russo won an appeal before the Connecticut Supreme Court that will make it easier for workers suffering from occupational disease or repetitive trauma claims to obtain benefits.
SOUTH WINDSOR, CT, July 08, 2010 /Employment - Careers PR News/ -- In recent years, decisions of the Connecticut Workers Compensation Review Board have made it more difficult for workers suffering from an occupational disease to prove that they are entitled to benefits. The Board has also issued rulings that a worker injured through repetitive trauma on the job has only one year following his last exposure at work to the conditions causing his injury in which to file a claim for benefits unless he or she can prove that the injury is an occupational disease.
In June 2010, the South Windsor law firm of Berman & Russo won an appeal before the Connecticut Supreme Court that will make it easier for workers suffering from occupational disease or repetitive trauma claims to obtain benefits.
The Connecticut Supreme Court reversed the decision of the Workers Compensation Review Board, which had denied Andre Veilleux's claim for benefits due to his repetitive trauma injury. Mr. Veilleux was not told by his doctor that he had suffered from work-related repetitive trauma to his neck until more than a year after he left his job. When Berman & Russo filed a claim for benefits on his behalf, the Trial Commissioner and the Review Board dismissed his claim holding that it was time barred because it was not filed within one year after he left his job.
Agreeing with the legal arguments made by Berman & Russo, the Connecticut Supreme Court reversed that decision. The Court ruled that that it was not necessarily true that all repetitive trauma claims have a one-year filing limitation. The Court said that if a repetitive trauma injury more closely resembles an occupational disease than it does an accidental injury, that an injured worker may file his claim more than one year after he left his employment.
The Supreme Court also said that the Review Board erred in ruling that an injured worker has to prove that his injury is "unique" to his job in order to prove that it resembles an occupational disease. The Supreme Court confirmed that while an occupational disease must be one which is "peculiar to the occupation," it does not necessarily have to be "unique" to the occupation. Instead, "it need merely be so distinctively associated with the occupation that there is a direct causal connection between the duties of the employment and the disease contracted."
The Connecticut Trial Lawyers Association felt that the issues in the Veilleux case were so important to injured workers that it filed a brief with the Connecticut Supreme Court in support of Berman & Russo. Attorneys Jon D. Berman and Frank W. Russo issued a statement saying: "We are pleased to have won this important victory for our client. However, we are also happy to think that many other injured workers may now find it easier to obtain benefits that could otherwise have been denied to them."
Jon D. Berman and Frank W. Russo have over 25 years of experience in representing clients with personal injuries throughout central and eastern Connecticut. The lawyers at the firm pride themselves on client-focused service; as shown by the recent win before Connecticut's highest court, the firm's attorneys are dedicated to clients and will pursue all options to obtain a positive result.
If you have been injured on the job or have suffered any other type of accidental injury, contact a skilled attorney at the law office of Berman & Russo, located in South Windsor, Connecticut, for help with your claim.
Website: http://www.brslaw.com/CM/AccidentClaims/Workers-Compensation.asp
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Berman & Russo
Berman & Russo
Workers Compensation Attorneys
819 Clark Street
South Windsor, CT
United States 06074
Voice: (860) 288-2328
Fax: (860) 644-3656
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