John Goodell and Dan Green last week concluded settlement with recovery of $25,000 for “Client,” a large international engineering and construction firm and original contractor, and which provided extensive engineering management and procurement services, at a substantial but acceptable discount, arising from long running state court mechanic’s lien complex litigation, with bankruptcy detour, relating to Hoku Materials plant construction failed project.
By Fred J. Lewis
Always try to protect your job first by making a request for unpaid time off under the Family Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”) even when you are on workers’ compensation benefits if it is legally available to you and your employer is bound by the FMLA. You can protect your job up to 90 days under the FMLA.
After the first 90 days have gone by it gets harder to protect your job because there is no Idaho workers’ compensation law against an employer terminating your employment even while you are receiving workers’ compensation benefits. Fringe benefits you are receiving from your employer will also end upon your termination. If you are still recovering from the work related injury and you are let go, your medicals bills relating to your on the job injury will still be covered by workers’ compensation. If you are terminated and you feel you aren’t being fairly compensated contact me or another experienced Idaho workers’ compensation attorney. You may have other claims against your employer that you need to bring.
Pure coincidence, I’m sure: Both of these marks appeared in last week’s Gazette. I’d like to see their stores sitting next door to each other in a mall in Colorado.
(Smoke It All: International Class 1 for chemicals for smoking food; I.C. 4 for wood dust for smoking food; I.C. 35 for retail store services. Smoke It All A/S, Esbjerg, Denmark. Mary Wanna: International Class 32 for fruit juices, energy drinks, soft drinks, and soda water. M&W Brands and Products, Inc., East Bradenton, Florida.)
John Goodell has made a settlement for “Client” in total amount of $65,000 (on total account debt of $71,000 P+I), with $50,000 initial payment to be paid by cashier’s check sent via overnight mail today for receipt tomorrow, and three additional $5000 installments due 1/1/16, 2/1/16, and 3/1/16, in account collection case, in Bozeman, MT action. John Bulger assisted as licensed MT counsel.
By Fred J. Lewis
All most all of Idaho workers’ compensation cases and disputes regarding benefits are handled by the Idaho Industrial Commission. However, in the rare circumstances where your employer intends to harm you and actually does physically harm you, this creates a basis for a civil action against your employer.
A lot of what I do in this field involves helping people figure out what they need. “Intellectual property” is a fairly broad topic with a lot of different kinds of rights lumped together in a way that can lead to confusion. I have had people tell me they want to file a trademark on the copyright for their patent. If that’s you, call me and make an appointment. The initial consultation is free. I may end up referring you to a patent lawyer to prepare and file a patent application, but we may figure out that you need to register a copyright, or have an investor sign a non-disclosure agreement, or send a cease-and-desist letter to an infringer. We won’t know until we talk.
For instance, suppose you had a great idea for an invention. Your first thought may be to pull out a credit card and send a lot of money to one of the invention commercialization companies that advertise on the radio. They will take your money and file a provisional patent application, or maybe a design patent application. Those may not be what you need, but these businesses are set up to file applications, not give you trustworthy advice. A provisional patent application merely kicks the can down the road for a year, at the end of which you will need to shell out more money to actually file a full patent application. It may be that you would have been better off keeping your idea secret for a year. A design patent, on the other hand, may be inappropriate for your invention, and may actually cause you to lose your rights in your invention — the exact opposite of what a patent is supposed to do. Your money may be better spent elsewhere. A consultation with a lawyer may steer you in the right direction.
(Disclaimer: I am not a patent lawyer. I cannot file patents, I will not do a patent search, and I will not advise you whether or not an invention is patentable.)
By Fred J. Lewis
Most of the time the answer is yes. If there is a position or duty that can be reasonably done within the restrictions set by your physician, then you will need to go back to work and try the light duty job. However, if you are asked to perform work outside your restrictions on the alleged “light duty” job you need to go back to your doctor and have him or her pull you off work completely until you can recover. If your pay is less then your normal wage, under Idaho Worker’s compensation law you may be entitled to benefits which compensate your wages lost while working for a lower pay on the light duty job
John Goodell and Dan Green, and Eric Olsen, have today negotiated settlement with recovery of $100,000 for “Client,” a publicly traded international manufacturing firm of industrial and electrical equipment, at a substantial but acceptable discount, arising from long running state court mechanic’s lien complex litigation, with bankruptcy detour, relating to Hoku Materials plant construction failed project.
By Fred J. Lewis
In many Idaho workers’ compensation cases the injured party doesn’t fully recover. They often have permanent injuries which corresponded to an impairment rating. These ratings are given by a physician. Insurance companies pay these benefits monthly until paid in full, but in some instances can be paid in a lump sum. These benefits are calculated by calculating 55% of the average state weekly wage for the year in which you are injured times the percent of your impairment times 500 weeks. Let’s say for example you are awarded a 10% whole person impairment rating for a 2014 injury. For this impairment rating you should receive 55% of the average weekly wage for 2014 or $376.20 per week for 50 weeks.(10% times 500 weeks) This would calculate to a total of $18,810.00.
John Goodell recovered 11/30/15 $28,106.58 by settlement without suit of account collection for “Client” in WY paid today.
Idaho Law Blog
