Injured Worker Settles With Worker's Compensation Carrier for Structured Settlement With Expected Payout of Over $5 Million

In 2018, the Workers Compensation  Commissioner in Waterbury approved a stipulated agreement between our client and his employer's worker's compensation insurance carrier in settlement of our client’s compensation claim with an expected  payout of $5,494,902. The compensation claim arose out of a motor vehicle collision that occurred in 2016. At the time of the  collision, our client, who was 42 years old, was riding as a  passenger in a box truck owned by his employer and being driven by his fellow employee at approximately 4 a.m. on Route 8. They had been  working since the night before and were returning to their employer's  place of business when the driver fell asleep, veered to the right,  struck a large rock wall, veered back into the roadway and rolled onto  its side. When the truck came to rest, the truck was blocking the  northbound lanes of traffic and the underside of the truck was facing  oncoming traffic.

A short time later, while our client was  till in the cab of the box truck trying to help his fellow employee exit the vehicle, a tractor trailer traveling in the northbound  lanes crashed into the underside of the box truck propelling the truck over 50 feet down the road and destroying both vehicles. As a  result of these collisions, our client suffered several fractures to his cervical spinal column with injury to the cervical spinal cord which has resulted in quadriplegia. Despite months of intense rehabilitation, our client remains paralyzed and will probably be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

The third-party liability cases against the two drivers were settled for policy limits.  Our client then entered into a stipulated structured settlement with the  worker's compensation carrier which includes an up-front payment and monthly payments to our client for the rest of his life, as well  payments into a Medicare Set-aside plan for next 21 years, which was developed for him and approved by the Center for Medicaid Services. The  future payments to client are guaranteed for 30 years.