What's Hot in Workers' Comp - News and Results*
NEWS
Kristopher T. Starr has joined our Wilmington, Delaware office as a shareholder in the Workers’ Compensation Department. He devotes the entirety of his practice to workers’ compensation defense and represents clients before all Delaware state and federal courts, and other administrative boards and agencies. Kris has more than 20 years of workers’ compensation litigation experience. He began his career in government service in Delaware, serving as a Workers' Compensation Hearing Officer for three years where he wrote more than 300 opinions and orders on workers' compensation matters post-hearing. He subsequently was appointed New Castle County Assistant County Attorney and Risk Manager, where he was responsible for the internal management of all workers' compensation and insurance claims management, as well as litigation concerning workers’ compensation and insurance loss cases. After leaving the public sector, he managed the Delaware workers’ compensation practice for a regional law firm. In 2012, Kris was appointed a Special Master in the Court of Chancery by former Chief Justice of Delaware, Leo E. Strine, Jr., and served in that capacity for several years. A member of the Delaware State Bar Association, Kris is a 1999 graduate of Widener University Delaware Law School. He additionally earned both a B.S.N. (1996) and an M.S.N. (2007) from the University of Delaware and is a licensed Family Nurse Practitioner in the states of Delaware and Maryland. His pro bono legal activities include serving as a Guardian Ad Litem for the Delaware Family Court and the Delaware Office of the Child Advocate and as Attorney ad litem in the Delaware Court of Chancery. He is admitted to practice law in Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Two attorneys from our Workers’ Compensation Department have been selected to the 2022 edition of Pennsylvania Super Lawyers magazine. Michele Punturi (Philadelphia, PA) has been named a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer, and Michael Duffy (King of Prussia, PA) has been named a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer Rising Star. A Thomson Reuters business, Super Lawyers is a rating service of lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. Each year, no more than five percent of the lawyers in the state are selected for this honor. The selection process is multi-phased and includes independent research, peer nominations and peer evaluations. A description of the selection methodology can be found here.
RESULTS*
Tony Natale (Philadelphia, PA) successfully defeated a very contentious fatal claim petition filed against a national trucking company. The decedent died of a heart attack after a three-day over-the-road run for the company. The decedent’s alleged dependents argued that the heart attack was caused by the rigors of the job. The decedent died as he was about to execute paperwork denoting his employment status as an independent contractor—he never signed the document. The case, therefore, proceeded to litigation in the workers’ compensation forum. Expert evidence was presented on the issue of whether the decedent’s job duties had any contribution to the death. The court concluded, based on the evidence presented (which included a blistering cross examination of decedent’s expert), that the work duties had no relationship whatsoever to the demise of the decedent. The fatal claim was dismissed in its entirety.
Judd Woytek (King of Prussia, PA) successfully defended a Black Lung claim alleging 20+ years of coal mine employment and exposure to coal dust. The District Director found that the claimant had only proven four years of qualifying coal mine employment. The District Director also found that the claimant was unable to prove he had developed coal workers’ pneumoconiosis or a totally disabling respiratory impairment.
Judd also successfully defended another Federal Black Lung claim where the judge credited the claimant with 11 years of qualifying coal mine employment, but found that the claimant had failed to prove a totally disabling respiratory impairment and, therefore, denied the claim. Judd presented evidence from our medical expert that the claimant did not contract coal workers’ pneumoconiosis as the result of his work in the coal mines and that he was not disabled by a respiratory impairment. The judge addressed the issue of total respiratory disability first, finding that the claimant had failed to meet his burden of proof with pulmonary function study, arterial blood gas study and medical opinion evidence. The judge credited the opinions of our medical expert over those of both the claimant’s expert and the independent expert retained by the Department of Labor. The judge found no respiratory disability and, therefore, denied the claim.
*Prior Results Do Not Guarantee A Similar Outcome
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