Category: Personal Injuries
Long-Term Disability Benefits Law – Looking at Options
May 15, 2013 | John T. BuchmanPersonal Injury and Long-Term Disability It’s no secret that employees are working longer and people are living longer than ever before. The economic conditions have caused many employees to push back their retirement date. One consequence of these facts is that there has been a marked increase in long-term disability claims by disabled employees. Many employers provide long-term disability benefits as part of their employment package. I recently assisted two clients in obtaining “LTD” benefits. These turned out to be quite involved and time intensive. One required an internal appeal in which we were successful. In order to be entitled to long term disability benefits, a person has to be “disabled” continuously for the initial “elimination” or waiting period and beyond. This disability need not be, and in fact is often not, due to a work-related injury. Disability can be established by a combination of unrelated injuries, conditions or illnesses that combine to prevent a person from working for the required period of time. Different policies can define “disability” differently. Many policies adopt the definition of disability found in the Social Security Disability Act. However, the policies need not use that definition and many do not. Generally, these definitions require that the person be unable to perform the material and substantial duties of…
Read MoreWhat is Minnesota's “Dog Injury” Law?
May 1, 2013 | John T. BuchmanIt is spring in Minnesota (finally) and people are finding many ways to be back outdoors enjoying the sun and nicer weather. Unfortunately, this can also bring an increase in incidents involving animal attacks, specifically dog attacks and bites as man’s “best friends” head back outdoors along with him. Minnesota has long had a law that creates liability for dog owners whose “best friends” are decidedly unfriendly and bite or injure others. This is commonly referred to as the “dog bite” statute (Minn. Stat. § 347.22). This law was enacted in 1951. Under the statute, “If a dog, without provocation, attacks or injures any person who is acting peaceably in any place where that person may lawfully be, the owner of the dog is liable . . .” Thus, an injured person must establish that they did not provoke the dog, they were acting peaceably in a place where they might lawfully be and that their injuries were the “direct and immediate” result of the dog’s actions. This law only applies to dogs and not cats. There is a bill currently in the legislature to include cats but it is uncertain whether it will become law. The law also applies to anyone who is “harboring” the dog (which means actively caring for the…
Read MoreSad Tragedy Reminds Us to Buckle Up and Be Safe
April 10, 2013 | Jon P. EricksonThere was a tragic motor vehicle accident this past weekend just north of Minneapolis where eight members of a family were in a van that was struck by another car. The accident caused four members of the van to be ejected from the vehicle. Those four were not wearing seat-belts, and three of them were killed. The fourth is still in critical condition. A lieutenant of the Minnesota Highway Patrol is quoted as saying: “The fact can’t be ignored that if they had worn seat belts, it could have ended in a different result.” It was further noted that in the last three years 352 of 864 traffic deaths in Minnesota had victims that were not wearing seat belts. This is 41{a0c01d20c42349884e67ff80c137866b0a9fe47aaae8f8a86a605a369ae487c3} of the deaths in these accidents. These deaths were all likely preventable! There was a second accident over the weekend in the metro area where a woman crashed her car into a tree, and was killed. She also was not wearing a seat belt. BUCKLE UP…seat belts save lives!
Read More