Legal Question in Workers Comp in Michigan

Injured on job site

About 2 1/2 yrs ag0 my husband was on a jobsite at an Automotive Co with his project engineer. They were in a paint spray booth, which is what the company builds for these companies.The line was shut down but apparently there is still a charge left. My husband was pointing something out to the pe when the paint robot apparently thought that he was a car body and a huge arc of electricity came at him and hit his fineger. He felt it go right though his body and through his heart, it dropped him to his knees, as he grabbed his heart and yelled out. Everyone came running and said that he should have been dead with the charge that went through him.His finger was numb for at least an hour. The engineer with him who was in charge told him not to say anything to anyone back at work, leter we found out that this does have an effect on the heart. a month later during his check up we found out that he had an artyhmia and defilibration which we feel was cause by the shock. I have found article on this and since then he has had a pace maker put in and also had a blood clot on his heart. We feel it was all cause by the shock.


Asked on 2/22/03, 3:10 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

William Stern William Stern, P.C.

Re: Injured on job site

Workers compensation only pays wage loss benefits when the worker suffers a wage loss. In your husband's case, there is no wage loss so no wage loss benefits will be paid. There is no recovery at all for pain and suffering. As far as getting his medical paid for, maybe if the treating cardiologist will link it up to the job incident. The trouble you may have is with notice to the employer. That could be a major hurdle, especially if the employer to this day has no knowledge of the incident. I assume health insurance has paid for the treatment. If Your husband got the medical paid for, it would simply be repaid to the health insurer. If your husband retires now, he could attempt to get wage loss benefits by filing a petition utilizing an experienced workers comp attorney. However, the notice requirements could be a major problem. Also, if he gets a pension paid for by the employer, for every dollar he gets from his pension there will be a dollar deducted from his workers comp rate. Therefore, as a retiree, he may not get much workers comp. If your husband sued the manufacturer of the robot, he may be precluded from receiving a recovery due to the concept of comparative negligence. If the jury would find him more than 50% at fault for not shutting everything off prior to entering the booth, he would be precluded from receiving a recovery. If you have further questions, feel free to email me or write me or call me at 248-353-9400. Bill Stern

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Answered on 2/23/03, 10:59 am


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