I follow LexisNexis’s Workers’ Compensation Law Community and check in often. A couple of weeks ago, Lexis posted an article from Yelena Zaslavskaya, the senior attorney for the Office of Administrative Law Judges. The article, entitled “Evaluation and Weighing of Medical Opinion Evidence in Longshore Cases,” discusses the medical evidence that is often presented in Longshore and Defense Base Act claims. Further, the article discusses how judges evaluate the medical evidence, especially where there are conflicting reports. I don’t want to steal any thunder from the LexisNexis article. As such, I encourage you to click on the hyperlinks above and check out the article for yourself. Photo courtesy of Flickr user Chris Potter.
Local National Translators and Defense Base Act Benefits
What if helping your home country also meant leaving your home country…at gun point…or to escape a price on your head? Some of our military contractors are faced with that very question. Specifically, I am talking about local nationals who help the United States or its allies in the war on terror. One of the most important jobs in the military involves translation and interpretation, a job that often requires the use of private contractors. Some interpreters are embedded with military units, going outside-the-wire with their team for extended periods of time. Others work from a forward operating base, translating intercepted broadcasts from insurgents. To be sure, there are translators and linguists from the United States that work in Afghanistan and Iraq. But local nationals are also hired to fill these roles. The Most Dangerous Job for Local National Contractors? It is hard to determine which job is the mostRead more
Just For Fun: Strongpoint Law Firm Playing Cards
What client gift is best suited for Strongpoint Law Firm? A pen? A paperweight? How about playing cards? I just received Strongpoint Law Firm’s first batch of playing cards. And as you can likely tell, I am flush with joy over the finished product. (I’ll stop with the bad puns now.) In all seriousness, I am lucky to have great clients–folks that become family over the course of their claim. If the new playing cards make my clients happy, then the cards make me happy, too. As you can tell from the picture, Strongpoint Law Firm represents injured workers and their families in claims arising under the Defense Base Act, the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act, the Jones Act, and in personal injury matters. If Strongpoint Law can help you, contact me (Jon Robinson) immediately. I can be reached by phone at (985) 246-3194, by e-mail at [email protected], orRead more
Service Animal Coverage for Longshore and DBA Claims
Are service animals covered by the Longshore Act and the Defense Base Act as “medical benefits”? If so, what types of service animals are covered? Medical Benefits: To begin to answer the service animal questions, let’s look at Section 7 of the Longshore Act. Section 7 defines an employer’s obligation to pay medical benefits. Pursuant to that statute, the “employer shall furnish such medical, surgical, and other attendance or treatment, nurse and hospital service, medicine, crutches, and apparatus, for such period as the nature of the injury or the process of recovery may require.” See 33 U.S.C. § 907 (emphasis added). For the cost of the medical treatment to be assessed against the employer or its insurance carrier, the medical expense corresponding to the work-related injury must be both reasonable and necessary. That is the general framework for medical treatment. Employers shall provide treatment, but only treatment that is medicallyRead more
Control the War Hazards Narrative
Before I started representing injured workers, I represented employers and insurance carriers. I handled a lot of claims arising under the Longshore Act, including Defense Base Act (DBA) claims. I also filed a lot of Applications for Reimbursement under the War Hazards Compensation Act (War Hazards). In DBA claims where I knew that I would eventually file for War Hazards reimbursement, I always gave the same piece of advice to the carrier: no matter what, control the War Hazards narrative. Controlling the narrative is all about positioning. Carriers should pay the injured worker, fulfilling their obligation under the DBA. And while they are doing so, carriers should collect the necessary information to submit a successful War Hazards Application for Reimbursement. A Disputed Last Responsible Carrier Claim: One of the last cases I tried for the defense involved a last responsible employer/carrier dispute. Under the Longshore Act and the DBA, “aRead more
Panic Disorder and the Defense Base Act
A few weeks ago, I posted the first in a series of articles describing particular psychiatric disorders that are common to Defense Base Act claims. This series of posts provides the diagnostic criteria and features for each disorder. Today, I discuss “Panic Disorder.” The American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (also called the DSM-5) assigns the following diagnostic criteria to Panic Disorder: A. Recurrent unexpected panic attacks. A panic attack is an abrupt surge of intense fear or intense discomfort that reaches a peak within minutes, and during which time four (or more) of the following symptoms occur: 1. Palpitations, pounding heart, or accelerated heart rate. 2. Sweating. 3. Trembling or shaking. 4. Sensations of shortness of breath or smothering. 5. Feelings of choking. 6. Chest pain or discomfort. 7. Nausea or abdominal distress. 8. Feeling dizzy, unsteady, light-headed, or faint. 9. Chills orRead more
Using Newspaper Articles In Your Defense Base Act Claim
Newspaper articles may be one of the most overlooked sources of evidence in Defense Base Act claims. Articles that establish the time, date, and location of a terrorist or insurgent attack may be the best proof of the existence of the attack. As such, why not use the newspaper article to help establish a DBA claim? Establishing a Prima Facie Case: At the start of a Defense Base Act claim, an injured worker must prove a prima facie case. This means that, before anything else, the injured worker must prove (1) that they suffered an injury or harm, and (2) that an accident occurred or working conditions existed at work which could have caused the injury. If the claimant successfully proves a prima facie case, then they are entitled to a presumption that their injury comes under the purview of the Act. See 33 U.S.C. § 920 (1984). This is very importantRead more
Life Expectancy, Commutation, and the Defense Base Act
The value of a Defense Base Act death benefits claim depends on the life expectancy of the claimant. The shorter the life expectancy, the cheaper the claim. So what happens when a claimant’s life expectancy is cut short because of an unannounced change in government policy? Foreign nationals are about to find out because the Division of Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation (DLHWC) just announced a new policy that reduces the presumed life expectancy for some claimants by 20 years or more. The new life expectancy change will affect commutation claims by foreign national beneficiaries–mostly death claims from spouses, elderly parents, and children. Here, I discuss commutation, the new life expectancy tables used by DLHWC, and the real-world effect of the life expectancy change on the value of a Defense Base Act claim. I also propose a solution: a rebuttable presumption whereby the Defense Base Act claimant can establish thatRead more
Defense of Freedom Medals and the War Hazards Comp Act
Too few Defense of Freedom Medals are awarded to deserving contractors. Far too few. When a civilian or military contractor is killed or wounded by hostile action experienced in the line of duty, then the contractor may be awarded the Secretary of Defense Medal for the Defense of Freedom–commonly known as the Defense of Freedom Medal or DFM. Initially, the medal was created for certain victims of the September 11th attack. Since that time, the scope of the medal has been extended to additional employees, including defense contractors. The problem, in my opinion, is that the medal is not awarded frequently enough. I base my opinion on the number of War Hazards Compensation Act claims opened and processed by the Department of Labor over the last decade in comparison to the few Defense of Freedom medals awarded during the same period of time. What are the Medal’s Requirements? Department ofRead more
Acute Stress Disorder and the Defense Base Act
PTSD is not the only psychological disorder affecting civilian contractors employed overseas. Other psychological disorders are equally dangerous, and they are also covered by the Defense Base Act. Over the next couple of months, I am going to periodically provide the diagnostic criteria for other mental disorders that are common to DBA claims. These criteria come directly from the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (also known as the DSM-5). And all of the disorders that I will mention are disorders I have actually encountered in Defense Base Act and War Hazards Compensation Act claims. Today’s post is about Acute Stress Disorder, the diagnostic criteria of which is: A. Exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violation in one (or more) of the following ways: 1. Directly experiencing the traumatic event(s) 2. Witnessing, in person, the event(s) as it occurred to others. 3. LearningRead more
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