In an effort to fully and finally close a claim that was the subject of a Permanency Award, Greg DiCarlo and Joe Csipak coordinated a scenario whereby a Re-Opener Claim Petition was prompted and filed by the injured worker’s attorney, and then quickly resolved via Section 20. Given the injuries involved in the case, the petitioner would likely have been deemed perm total at some point in the future. As such, they likely saved the client upwards of $250,000 in future exposure. The incentive for the petitioner to resolve his case fully and finally was evident in the fact that the payments which had yet to accrue on the underlying Award could be accelerated. The resolution was also made possible by the avoidance of Medicare compliance, since petitioner was an illegal alien not entitled to these government benefits.

In a hotly contested litigation involving compensability and significant injuries, John Carvelli battled through conferences, took Petitioner’s testimony and, through his efforts on cross-examination, was able to convince a liberal Judge in a liberal jurisdiction to recommend a full and final settlement for less than $10,000. The case was then resolved and closed. This aggressive lawyering in a hostile jurisdiction likely saved the client medical, indemnity and permanency exposure in the neighborhood of $40,000.