Settlement Documents

This link to the Division website lets you take a look at the standardized workers compensation settlement agreements. These documents are uniform so the language is the same for just about everybody. That said there are ways to make some changes or attach other documents that may be side deals between the parties. If you've been provided documents and want to see if they conform or where they differ check it out.

CMS to Rely on New Life Tables for Workers Compensation Set Aside Agreements

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has recently published its 2006 United States Life Tables. Effective July 19, 2010, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will begin referencing the CDC's Table 1: Life table for the total population: United States, 2006, for WCMSA life expectancy calculations. This means that for any newly submitted WCMSA proposal received by CMS' Coordination of Benefits Contractor (COBC), or where any WCMSA case is reopened on or after July 19, 2010, CMS will apply the CDC's 2006 Table 1 for life expectancy calculations.


In 2006, the overall expectation of life at birth was 77.7 years, representing an increase of 0.3 years from life expectancy in 2005. From 2005 to 2006, life expectancy at birth increased for all groups considered. It increased for males (from 74.9 to 75.1) and females (from 79.9 to 80.2), the white (from 77.9 to 78.2) and black populations (from 72.8 to 73.2), black males (from 69.3 to 69.7) and females (from 76.1 to 76.5), and white males (from 75.4 to 75.7) and females (from 80.4 to 80.6).


Click here to read more about Medicare Secondary Payer Act and workers' compensation.


Click here for more information on how Jon L Gelman can assist you in a claim for workers' Compensation claim benefits. You may e-mail Jon  Gelman or call 1-973-696-7900.

Court Permits Rehearing to Established Employer Liability

A NJ Appellate Court has affirmed the workers' compensation trial level opinion for total disability assessed entirely against an employer. The trial court had granted a motion for rehearing following a dismissal of the case when the employee alleged that he had been "sandbagged" by his employer at the original trial. 


The trial court allowed the hearing to be "reopened" against and her medical testimony and learned of the employer admittedly furnishing medical care o the injured worker. At the rehearing the the trial Judge assessed total disability against the employer and permitted no contribution from the Second Injury Fund. The Appellate Division affirmed the ruling. 


Brown v. Central Regional Board of Education, et al., Docket No. A-0025-08T3, NJ App Div 2010, 2010 WWL 269341, Decided July 9, 2010.


Click here for more information on how Jon L Gelman can assist you in a claim for workers' Compensation claim benefits. You may e-mail Jon  Gelman or call 1-973-696-7900.

House Cleaners Not Employees

A homeowner was not responsible under workers' compensation law for the injuries suffered by someone who was hired to clean the house. The Court held that individuals hired to perform basic cleaning services such as dusting, vacuuming, sweeping and bathroom cleaning did not establish an employee-employer relationship.


The reviewing tribunal, in affirming the trial court's decision, held that the relationship did not meet either "the right to control" or "relative nature of the work" tests.


Lopez v. Moser, Docket No. A-1535-09T21535-09T2, NJ App. Div., 201 WL 2696754, Decided July 9, 2010.


Click here for more information on how Jon L Gelman can assist you in a claim for workers' Compensation claim benefits. You may e-mail Jon  Gelman or call 1-973-696-7900.

Lawsuit Filled Alleging Asbestos Exposed Chemical Worker Suffered Fatal Mesothelioma

A lawsuit was filed alleging that a former chemical operator at Hoffman-LaRoche in Nutley, New Jersey was exposed to asbestos fiber and died of mesothelioma. The lawsuit filed in New Jersey Superior Court asserts that he suffered injurious exposure to asbestos as a direct result of his exposure to asbestos fiber at work. The estate of the deceased worker brought the action against several manufacturers and suppliers of asbestos fiber.

The lawsuit, Huk v Bird, Inc., was filed Friday in the Superior Court of New Jersey by the law 
firm of Jon L. Gelman LLC, and Motley Rice LLC , on behalf of estate. It alleges that those companies that mined, processed and sold asbestos-containing products were knowledgeable about the harmful effects of exposure to asbestos and asbestos-containing products, and failed to provide those exposed with knowledge as to possible precautions to protect against the harmful effects of asbestos exposure.

Mesothelioma is a rare cancer associated with asbestos exposure. The rates asbestos related fatalities are predicted to continue for decades to come. Despite public outcry, and the urging of physicians, asbestos is still not banned in the United States.

Attorney Jon L. Gelman, who has been litigating asbestos exposure claims for over three decades, said, “It is alleged the asbestos companies put into the stream of commerce a defective, unsafe and inherently dangerous product and failed to provide reasonable warnings.”

The defendants are Bird, Inc., Certain-Teed Corp., Frank A. McBride Company, Owens-Illinois, Inc and Rapid American Corporation.

Attorney Contact: Jon L. Gelman of Jon L. Gelman LLC, Wayne, NJ, 973.696.7900 or visit www.gelmans.com.

Allianz Firemans Fund Increases Asbestos Reserves by $301 Million

Fireman's Fund Insurance Company a Division of Allianz has announced that it will increase its asbestos and environmental risks reserve by $301 Million. The company stated, "The move follows the completion of its regular independent external asbestos exposure review."


Asbestos has been a known carcinogen for decades. It is a natural occurring mineral that that has been used for its non-flammable properties. Medical conditions occur such as asbestosis, mesothelioma and other cancers, decades after the initial exposure.


Initially sold by companies in the 1920s, without warning of its known dangers, asbestos use continues not to be banned in the US. Disease from asbestos exposure is predicted to continue at very high rates.

 The largest transfer of economic wealth in the United States from Industry to the private sector, other than in the Attorney General’s thirty-eight State tobacco litigation, emanated from asbestos litigation which had its geneses in workers’ compensation.   The late Irving Selikoff, MD’s pioneering efforts in providing expert testimony, based upon his sentinel studies of asbestos workers in Paterson, NJ, created the trigger mechanism for a massive wave of claims for occupational health care. The workers' compensation program never did adequately nor efficiently or expeditiously provide medical care.

The workers’ compensation system did not provide an adequate remedy because of a constellation of reasons, and subsequently, the wave spread to civil litigation out of desperation for adequate benefits. Asbestos litigation has been named, "The Longest Running Tort” in American history.   Asbestos litigation expanded into  bankruptcy claims that continue unabated and the epidemic of disease continues. The remaining cases in the Federal court system were transferred to Federal Multi District Litigation (MDL 875) and the majority are finally concluding after twenty years of Panel consolidation.


Large verdicts continue to be reported in asbestos claims. A Los Angles jury recently awarded $208.8 Million in what has been recognized as the largest asbestos verdict ($200 Million punitive damages) in the State of California.  The case involved a household contact exposure to asbestos fiber. The wife of the asbestos worker was exposed to asbestos fiber on the clothes of her husband that he brought home and that she cleaned.


Click here to read more about asbestos related disease and claims for benefits. For over 3 decades the Law Offices of Jon L. Gelman1.973.696.7900 jon@gelmans.com  have been representing injured workers and their families who have suffered asbestos related illnesses.

Temporary Benefits Due During Period of Unrelated Medical Condition

An asthma flare up, that delayed surgery for a compensable back injury, was not a reason to halt the payment of workers' compensation temporary disability payment. The Court held:

"....when treatment for the original work related injury is delayed due to unrelated
conditions, the claimant was entitled to continued disability benefits during the entire period."

"The compensation judge correctly ordered continued temporary disability benefits from November 9, 2006 through February 17, 2007, "the period of time when [Schock] was unable to proceed with an authorized anterior fusion at C5-6 and C7 because of asthma flare-ups unrelated to the work accident." Schock did not refuse treatment, there is no evidence that she was able to return to work or that she was at maximum medical improvement during the brief delay in her neck surgery. Her  asthma condition was temporary and beyond her or her doctor's control."

Shock v Morristown Memorial Hospital/Atlantic Health Systems, Docket No, A-1658-09T2, (NJ Ap. 2010), Decided July 2, 2010

To read more about temporary disability and workers' compensation click here.

Click here for more information on how Jon L Gelman can assist you in a claim for workers' Compensation claim benefits. You may e-mail Jon  Gelman or call 1-973-696-7900.