MN Work Comp Court of Appeals Win Secured by Meuser & Associate

We recently received the MN Work Comp Court of Appeals decision on a hard-fought case involving a Minnesota metro firefighter. The self-insured employer mounted a very aggressive defense on his case. We won over $100,000.00 on behalf of our client as the result of a hearing held in March 2012. The self-insured employer then appealed the decision. Oral arguments at the Court of Appeals were heard in October 2012, and the Minnesota Workers' Compensation Court of Appeals issued its decision affirming the decision of the lower court in January 2013. You can read the entire decision in Vanderbeek vs. City of St. Paul.

This case involved a variety of complex issues, including:

1) credibility issues,
2) whether the employee retired from the labor market,
3) whether the employee was entitled to permanent partial disability,
4) whether the employee was required to conduct job search to establish his eligibility for temporary partial disability benefits, and
5) whether his back condition was related to his work injury or a pre-existing condition.

Meuser & Associate proudly represents injured firefighters throughout the state of Minnesota for workers' compensation and PERA duty disability claims. Sometimes, employers pay injured firefighters the workers' compensation benefits they are owed, and sometimes they don't. In our opinion, the self-insured employer in this case should have paid benefits from day one, but it took a trial, and a Court of Appeals decision to get this injured firefighter the benefits he was owed.

For a free, no-obligation consultation, contact Meuser & Associate at 877-746-5680 or click here to send us an email.