After over two years of litigation, LOIS Partner Meisha Powell and Paralegal Karen Olarte, were successful in not only securing a disallowance in a New York Workers’ Compensation complex construction claim, but also a discharge and removal from the claim for the client. “Securing a disallowance at the conclusion of trial was no easy feat,” commented Powell, “but the Law Judge found it hard to ignore all the parallels with this case and the cases involved in the RICO action that have been front and center as Carrier’s pursue fraudulent actors in an insurance scheme connected to the construction industry.”
The Claimant alleged that Powell’s insured was his Employer, which was deemed to be false. During cross-examination of the Claimant’s actual Employer, Attorney Powell was sure to set the record straight on employer/employee relationship: in this case, the Claimant presented evidence of a photograph on the construction site, wearing a hard hat with the name of Powell’s insured displayed on the front. Yet, during cross-examination of the Claimant, the Claimant painted a picture of inconsistencies and suspicions. To begin with, he testified that he only entered the United States a couple weeks before landing this construction job, alleging serious injuries, securing an attorney on the same date of loss, and filing a Workers’ Compensation case and a third-party action. Even though the Claimant conveniently presented photographs of himself on the jobsite and in his hospital bed, the Law Judge disallowed the claim.
Finally, before the Law Judge closed the record, Attorney Powell requested a formal discharge and removal finding for her client based on the totality of the evidence on top of a disallowance request. Powell used all the evidence presented during trial to argue that the Claimant failed to prove that me worked for Powell’s insured. Powell’s request was granted with no objections. The detailed and vigorous preparation of Powell and her team led to this favorable result for the client.
