Workplace Injuries

• Iowa Workers' Compensation - The Final Season - Does the pilot have a claim against those in charge?

  Steve Lombardi | December 04, 2007 12:00 AM | 0 CommentsDes Moines, IA

  This is an example of what kind of accident that raises many questions that only a lawyer can answer. Filming the Final Season isn't close to being the final questions that should be asked. A film crew was filming the Final Season, a film about the 1991 Norway High School baseball team that won the state championship in the year previous to a merger with a larger district when the helicopter...

• I'm hurt! How do I know if I have a case?

  Steve Lombardi | December 01, 2007 12:00 AM | 0 CommentsDes Moines, IA

  Personal injury is a broad area of the law having to do with civil wrongs to a person. People are "injured" in many ways. Some times it's not just about a bodily injury. It could be legal malpractice or libel and slander, it could be damage to a person's reputation or damage caused to a claim they have against another. It might even be damage to their business. We call it personal injury because...

• Iowa Workers' Compensation - Reducing Back Injuries

  Steve Lombardi | November 23, 2007 12:00 AM | 0 CommentsDes Moines, IA

  If we can reduce worker on-the-job injuries everyone benefits. In Missouri MoDot came up with a safety program that the Iowa DOT should examine. Since January 2006, MoDOT has worked to change the tasks that were causing the most employee injuries by either making different purchases or modifying the work process, like buying 48-pound bags of concrete that are easier to lift and carry instead of...

• Iowa Workers' Compensation - Trucker found dead by a rescue crew in Des Moines.

  Steve Lombardi | November 18, 2007 12:00 AM | 0 CommentsDes Moines, IA

  A truck driver hauling a load of dirt was heading east on Vandalia Road when the truck crossed the center line striking a bridge support resulting in his death. This situation probably demonstrates what most people don't understand about workers' compensation claims; that fault has nothing to do with whether or not the widow is entitled to benefits. So long as alcohol is not a factor there would...

• Iowa Workers' Compensation - Oelwein Worker Killed

  Steve Lombardi | November 18, 2007 12:00 AM | 0 CommentsDes Moines, IA

  Back on December 14, 2006 Radio Iowa reported on a worker killed at a construction site in Atkins. The name had not yet been released but it was reported by deputies he died after being hit by a piece of earth-moving equipment. What is important about this claim is that the relatives or attorney who represents them realizes there are two potential causes of action to pursue. One is a workers'...

• Iowa Workers' Compensation - Carter Lake Store Clerk Shot to Death

  Steve Lombardi | November 17, 2007 12:00 AM | 0 CommentsDes Moines, IA

  A Carter Lake man, Robert Bates III was reported by the Omaha World-Herald to have been shot shortly after 10 P.M. last Thursday night at the Jump Start Conoco Station where he worked as a clerk. I have blogged about this type of claim previously. On August 22, 2007 I wrote about the Tama hotel clerk who was shot. This can be a viable claim for life time benefits to the widow or for a lesser...

• Iowa Construction Worker in Trench - Cave In

  Steve Lombardi | November 12, 2007 12:00 AM | 0 CommentsDes Moines, IA

  The Job Safety Handbook covers just this sort of work and provides specific examples of what not to do. Trench boxes can be rented and used on-site making this type of injury less likely to ever occur. Trench safety equipment may include hydraulic vertical shores, multi-shores, horizontal waler systems, lightweight aluminum shields, modular aluminum boxes, trench shields and slide rails are a...

• Part XIV - Iowa Workers' Compensation - The Going and Coming Rule - Conclusion

  Steve Lombardi | November 02, 2007 12:00 AM | 0 CommentsDes Moines, IA

  V. Food For Thought I've settled two cases whereby traditional notions of the going and coming rule should have precluded the office from taking the case. The first involved an exotic dancer who was involved in a serious car accident on her way home from "work" after consuming alcohol on the work premises during and between her stage routine. The other involved an over-the-road truck driver,...

• Part XIII - Iowa Workers' Compensation - The Going and Coming Rule

  Steve Lombardi | November 01, 2007 12:06 AM | 0 CommentsDes Moines, IA

  M. Medical Treatment Exception. I haven't been able to find an Iowa case that applies the principles underlying this exception. It is my opinion the Iowa Court will follow the leading case law as set out in the Minnesota cases. There are several from other jurisdictions. The state with the most applicable case law is Minnesota. The Minnesota Supreme Court decided that the wife and children...

• Part XII - Iowa Workers' Compensation - The Going and Coming Rule

  Steve Lombardi | October 31, 2007 12:04 AM | 0 CommentsDes Moines, IA

  L. Lunch Break Exception. The basic rule, is that the journey to and from meals on the premises of the employer is in the course of employment. Conversely, when the employee with a fixed time and place of work has left the premises for lunch, he is outside of the course of his employment if he falls, is struck by an automobile crossing the street, or is otherwise injured. 1 Larson, Workmen's...