Author: Keenan Powell

 

On July 22, 2015, the Alaska Workers Compensation Board issued a decision in Marquez v Sunset Haven, AWCB Decision No. 15-0086 awarding the Employee all of the benefits she requested!

The decision can be found at the Board's site: http://appeals.dol.alaska.gov/docs/workerscomp/2015/15-0086.pdf

Flordeliza Marquez was working as a personal care attendant for Sunset Haven. She was paid a salary plus room and board plus cash under the table for working overtime. She fell in November of 2014 fracturing to vertebrae. On account of her injuries, she was unable to work as an attendant and was forced to move from the home.

The Employer, whose workers compensation insurance had lapsed, disputed that the Ms. Marquez had been injured while working for him.

The Board found that Ms. Marquez was injured while she was working, that she had reported her injury to him timely, that she was entitled to back benefits which compensated her for her lost wages plus room and board, medical benefits, plus 25% penalties for the Employer’s failure to pay her disability timely, plus interest, plus fees and costs.

The Board ordered the Employer to pay Ms. Marquez what he owes her and if the does not pay within 30 days, the Alaska Workers Compensation Guaranty Fund will pay the judgment.

The Law Office of Keenan Powell provides free consultations regardless of whether or not you have been controverted.   To contact Keenan Powell, use the contact form on this page or call 258-7663.

For more information about Workers Compensation, see:  http://www.keenanpowell.com/faq‑wc.html

 

 

The insurance companies frequently “offer” the injured employee a nurse case manager to “assist” in making appointments and to “accompany” the injured employee to doctors appointments. These people are insurance company spies.

Nurse spies are sent by the insurance company for a number of reasons: The nurse spy will discourage the doctor from recommending treatment the insurance company doesn’t want to pay for. The nurse spy will report back immediately to the insurance company of what was said so that the insurance company can adjust its strategy against you. The nurse spy will take anything you say and give it to the insurance company to use against you.  And the nurse spy will testify against you and the doctor at the hearing in your case.

You don’t have to accept the nurse spy’s “assistance”. You can refuse to allow her into the doctor’s visits.  The insurance company already has a release of information you signed when you were first hurt so it can collect your medical records, correspond and speak with your doctor. That is all the insurance company is legally entitled to.

Keenan Powell has practiced Workers Compensation law in the State of Alaska for over 30 years and has dedicated her practice to Workers Compensation representing injured Alaskans handling hundreds of cases. www.keenanpowell.com.

All consultations are free.  To make an appointment, use the contact form on this website or call:  907 258 7663.

Yesterday, the Alaska Workers Compensation Board handed down an opinion in Baker v Pro West Contractors and Liberty Northwest, Decision No 15-0069 (6/16/15), slamming Liberty Northwest (LNW) for its treatment of an Employee.  In that case, I had negotiated a settlement with LNW by which it agreed to pay all of the Employee's medical bills for his work injury. Then LNW didn't pay them.  It tried to negotiate the bills and when the providers wouldn't accept less than what was owed, they just didn't pay the bill.  Then the providers came after the Employee again for payment of the bills.

I filed a Claim against LNW which went to hearing on 3/19/15. In its defense, LNW claimed that it didn't agree to pay the bills, only to repay the Employee for any bills he had paid.  (The bills were well over $100,000). That is not the law.

In yesterday's decision, the Board held that the employee was entitled to have the bills paid and the providers were entitled to be paid with penalties. The decision can be found on the Alaska Workers Compensation Board's website: http://uiappeals.labor.alaska.gov/SearchRoot/workcomp/search.htm.

I have practiced Workers Compensation law in the State of Alaska for over 30 years and have dedicated my practice to representing injured Alaskans handling hundreds of cases in Workers Compensation cases. www.keenanpowell.com.

All consultations are free.  To make an appointment, use the contact form on this website or call:  907 258 7663.

 

 

 

Frequently I'm asked by clients what they should say. What should they tell the adjuster? What should they tell opposing counsel in a deposition? What should they say in a hearing?

My answer is always the same: tell the truth. I shouldn't have to explain why but I will anyway.  Tell the truth because your testimony is the most important evidence in the case. If the other side thinks you're lying, they're going to go out of their way to destroy your case.  If the Workers Compensation Board thinks you're lying, you'll lose.

If your attorney finds out you lied or are lying, he or she will probably withdraw from your case and you'll be on your own.

And, last if not least, insurance fraud is a crime. Telling a lie in order to obtain benefits can land you in jail just like Amancio Zamora Agcaoili, Jr. who got a 30 month sentence in the federal pen. See: http://www.ktuu.com/news/news/postal-worker-gets-prison-time-365k-bill-for-fraudulent-workers-comp/32867922.

Keenan Powell has practiced Workers Compensation law in the State of Alaska for over 30 years and has dedicated her practice to Workers Compensation representing injured Alaskans handling hundreds of cases. www.keenanpowell.com.

All consultations are free.  To make an appointment, use the contact form on this website or call:  907 258 7663.

 

 

 

Why does it seem the insurance company is in a hurry to get the doctor to release you to light duty? Because if the doctor releases you to light duty and your employer is willing to give you a light duty job, then the insurance company doesn't have to pay you temporary total disability (TTD benefits) anymore.

But that's only if the light duty is full-time work. If the doctor says you can work part-time and if your employer agrees to give you a part-time job, then you are entitled to temporary partial disability (TPD) which compensates yo for the the wages you're missing out on.

And, most especially, the insurance company is entitled to cut off your TTD if and only if your employer is willing to accommodate the limitations set by your physician.  If your employer let you go when you got injured, you don't have to go out and find a part-time light duty job, you are still entitled to TTD even if the doctor gave you light duty.

If the doctor does prescribes light duty and the employer is willing to accommodate the restrictions, that's always better for the injured worker than sitting at home collecting TTD.  Getting back into the labor force sooner is better for the worker's self esteem and state of mind.  The worker will earn more money at work than TTD or TPD pays. And being in the work force builds a better work history for future employment.

Keenan Powell has practiced Workers Compensation law in the State of Alaska for over 30 years and has dedicated her practice to Workers Compensation representing injured Alaskans handling hundreds of cases. www.keenanpowell.com.

All consultations are free.  To make an appointment, use the contact form on this website or call:  907 258 7663.

 

When the insurance company launches an investigation, they don't just hire a private detective to follow you around, they dig into everything they can find.

They hire someone called a "Social Media Analyst" who will crawl through your Facebook posts, your friends' Facebook posts, your Twitters and any other social media to get the goods on you.

They will go on a computer database that lists all of your addresses, current and previous, the names of your neighbors and the names of other people living in your home. They will look for old court cases in which you were involved. They'll look for any property that is in your name.

They will do everything they can do to find everything there is out in the public domain about you.

So remember, if you're putting anything out on social media, you can expect it to come back and bite you someday. Once you post, you can't unpost it.

Keenan Powell has practiced Workers Compensation law in the State of Alaska for over 30 years and has dedicated her practice to Workers Compensation representing injured Alaskans handling hundreds of cases. www.keenanpowell.com.

All consultations are free.  To make an appointment, use the contact form on this website or call:  907 258 7663.

You’ve been injured at work. The insurance doctor says either your injury wasn’t work-related or that you don’t need treatment.  Then you see a nondescript man wearing a baseball cap in a nondescript pick up truck in front of your house, at the grocery store, at the gas station.  And you think you’re being followed.

You’re not paranoid. You are being followed. And videotaped.

Insurance companies routinely hire local private detectives to follow around injured workers.  In the 2012 yellow pages, there were seventeen (17) detective agencies in Anchorage alone.  There’s at least a half dozen with websites, easy enough to find on google. All of these people are earning a living following honest, hard working people around.

Guess what? They need the work. And because they need the work, they look for what the insurance companies want to see. They’ll falsify their reports.  They’ll edit the videotapes they provide, all in an effort to make it look like the employee isn’t really injured.

The Workers Compensation Board is on to these investigators.  In my case, Guinard vs Liberty Mutual/Liberty Northwest, AWCB Decision 13-0017 (2/26/2013), Liberty Mutual introduced a report from an investigator stating my client walked around, not looking injured. I forced the insurance company to produce the video which clearly showed that my client was limping, and the investigator was lying.  We won. The insurance company lost.

Keenan Powell has practiced Workers Compensation law in the State of Alaska for over 30 years and has dedicated her practice to Workers Compensation representing injured Alaskans handling hundreds of cases. www.keenanpowell.com.

All consultations are free.  To make an appointment, use the contact form on this website or call:  907 258 7663.

 

 

Wage loss benefits (temporary total disability, temporary partial disability and permanent total disability are calculated pursuant to AS 23.30.220. There are 10 different formulas.

The most common formula is used when an employee’s earnings are calculated by the day, hour of output.  In that case, the amount is determined by looking at the best of the previous two years and dividing the gross wages by 50.  So if the employee’s best earning was $35,000 in one of the two years preceding the injury, his gross weekly wage is $35,000 divided by 50 equaling $700 per week.

The employee would not receive $700 for the wages lost while he is unable to work because of his injury.  Once the gross weekly wage is computed, then you need to go to the Alaska Workers Compensation Board website and plug that into the Benefit Calculator: http://labor.state.ak.us/wc/benefitcalculator.htm.

The amount of the benefits is dependent upon the year in which the employee was injured.  If he was injured on 1/1/14 and had a “spendable weekly wage” of $700, then he would be entitled to $454.44 per week if he is filing taxes as single with 1 dependent.  If he was injured on 1/1/15 instead, he would receive $454.79 per week.

Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA) would be applied of the employee lives out of the state of Alaska which could increase or decrease the amount of money he receives.

Keenan Powell has practiced Workers Compensation law in the State of Alaska for over 30 years and has dedicated her practice to Workers Compensation representing injured Alaskans handling hundreds of cases. www.keenanpowell.com.

All consultations are free.  To make an appointment, use the contact form on this website or call:  907 258 7663.