Personal Injury Law Journal

Stark & Stark attorney Michael A. Brusca in the firm’s Nursing Home Litigation Group authored the article “Assisted Living Facility Litigation: An Overview,” published in the New Jersey Law Journal on May 6, 2013.  The article discusses how and why assisted living facility (“ALF”) litigation is on the rise.

Mr. Brusca explains that ALFs have become profitable for investors, which creates natural tension “especially when profit may be increased by decreasing staff levels and competence.”  There is a lack of a uniform and specific regulatory structure amongst ALFs, which could potentially lead to a significant variation in levels of care and service. 

Mr. Brucsa states, “ALF litigation is on the rise, and there is no inclination that this trend is likely to reverse.  However, understanding how to properly handle these complex claims is important to protecting your client’s rights.”

To read the full article, Click Here.

While an injured worker is out of work under the care of an authorized workers’ compensation physician they are entitled to be paid 70% of average weekly wages if they miss work for more than seven days.  There is always a lot of concern and disagreement over the calculation of the average weekly wage.   Most workers’ compensation attorneys rely on a calculation where the 26 weeks of wages prior to the accident are averaged and multiplied by 70% to calculate the weekly temporary disability rate.  A careful reading of the statute below shows that the 26 week average rate only applied to employees performing piece work, a type of work that is not very common nowadays, not to the average hourly employee.

Therefore it is clear that for hourly employees, the correct way to calculate wage and rate is to determine the customary work week, and the normal rate of pay and multiply to calculate a weekly wage. The above section of the statute seems fairly clear, however there are always important issues that come up in calculating the wage and rate in workers’ compensation cases.  The wage and rate effect temporary and permanency weekly payments,  For any questions regarding the New Jersey workers’ compensation statute please contact Stark and Stark.

Now that daylight savings time is well upon us, it is important to remind you to make sure that you have adjusted your outside lights to compensate for the extra darkness in the morning.  This is especially important for business owners and homeowners.  Most people forget that we suddenly get an extra hour of darkness in the morning when the clocks are moved ahead by the one hour for the time change.  This can mean that public areas that previously were illuminated at a designated time now might be dark for an extra hour unless the owner makes sure to adjust the timer for the outside light.  If this seems trivial, it’s not.  

I have heard of many cases where pedestrians have been severely injured by hazards in public walkways and stairways because the areas were darkened due to a light that did not turn on in the morning at the proper time.  If the lights had just been adjusted to compensate for the extra hour of darkness in the morning as a result of the time change, many of these unfortunate incidents would not have happened.  The same holds true for when daylight savings time ends.  At that time, outdoor lighting should be adjusted to compensate for the extra hour of darkness in the late afternoon.  You should regularly inspect your property during daylight hours and nighttime hours to look for anything that could be hazardous to pedestrians.  The nighttime inspections are important to determine whether outside and perimeter lights are working properly and also to determine whether there are any hazards that would not be uncovered during a daylight inspection of the premises.  With regard to these inspections, it is always better to be safe than sorry.  The extra effort involved in making sure your outside area is safe for pedestrians is well worth it, especially if it prevents someone from getting injured at the property.  

If you or someone you know has been injured as a result of a dangerous condition due to faulty outdoor lighting at someone’s property, give us a call right away.  We can help you if you are hurt as a result of someone else’s negligence.

Stephen Di Stefano is an attorney in Stark & Stark’s Marlton, New Jersey office, concentrating in Accident & Personal Injury Law. For more information, please contact Mr. Di Stefano.

What are the factors a court will review in deciding if an on-the-job heart attack is compensable?

The New Jersey Workers' Compensation Act has a specific provision addressing cardiovascular and cerebral vascular (stroke) injuries. Section 7.2 of the Act provides, "In any claim for compensation for injury or death from cardiovascular or cerebral vascular causes, the claimant shall prove by a preponderance of the credible evidence that the injury or death was produced by the work effort or strain involving a substantial condition, event or happening in excess of the wear and tear of the claimant’s daily living and in reasonable medical probability caused in a material degree the cardiovascular or cerebral vascular injury or death resulting therefrom."

"Material degree" means an appreciable degree or a degree substantially greater than de minimus.

Obviously this is one of the more difficult areas of Workers’ Compensation law, and a worker who suffers a heart attack on the job should consult a qualified workers' compensation attorney. A key issue here is the work effort was and whether it was in excess of the worker’s daily living. Our courts have interpreted this not as a comparison of the work effort at the time of the attack but rather a comparison of that work effort with the wear and tear of the person’s daily living outside of work.

A second important point to consider are the medical proofs available. What was the worker’s health before the attack? How much time passed between the work effort and the attack? Obviously these complicated issues should always be handled by a qualified workers' compensation attorney such as those here at Stark & Stark.

Alfred Vitarelli is a Shareholder in Stark & Stark's Marlton, New Jersey office, concentrating in Workers’ Compensation Law. For more information, please contact Mr. Vitarelli.

The New Jersey Workers’ Compensation Statute section  N.J.S.A. 34:15-17 requires injuries to be reported within 90 days of a work accident.  A recent case, Ader v. Lebanon Township, addresses this section of the statute, and confirms the importance of reporting accidents within 90 days. This section of the statute is designed to give the employer the benefit of timely investigation into the accident.  The employee in the above case waited 15 months to report his injury to his employer, and thus was denied workers’ compensation benefits by the court.

The employee worked as a volunteer EMT for the Township of Lebanon.  On November 18, 2008, this employee climbed onto the back of a tow-truck to investigate an accident, and when he jumped off of the truck he felt pain in his low back.  He did not report this accident to his employer or request medical care.  A few weeks later he felt pain in his hips so he went to his own doctor and spoke about the work incident jumping off of the truck, but not until two months after the accident.  Eleven months after the accident his own doctor sent him to a surgeon who diagnosed a serious condition that would require hip replacements.  The employee told the surgeon about the pain he experienced after jumping off of the tow-truck at work.  The employee finally reported the accident to the Township in February of 2010.

The Township denied the claim on the basis of the above “Notice” statute, and took the position that this employee waited too long to report his injury.  The employee’s position was that he really did not know his condition was work related until the surgeon told him so.  The Court rejected his argument, and found that the employee knew he was injured on November 18, 2008, or shortly thereafter, and held that he should have reported the event to his employer within 90 days.  He certainly knew of the relationship when he saw his own doctor a few weeks after the accident.

This recent case shows how important it is to notify your employer as soon as possible if you get injured at work.  Even if you do not feel you need medical care immediately, it is still best to cover yourself by letting your employer know you were involved in an accident.  And certainly the minute you feel you need medical care you must let your employer know you were injured at work, and ask for medical treatment.  Then call Stark & Stark and we can help you through the process.

Marci Hill Jordan is a Shareholder in Stark & Stark’s Marlton, New Jersey office, concentrating in Workers’ Compensation Law. For more information, please contact Ms. Jordan.