Category: Worker’s Compensation

Unfortunately, in personal injuries cases, an individual sometimes has to pursue a case on behalf of a deceased family member. In these tragic situations, the individual has to deal with the loss of a loved one, pursuing a personal injury case, and possibility of administering their loved one’s estate. It’s a lot to handle all  … Read more

Every civil lawsuit can be broken up into a few broad stages. First there is the filing of a Complaint or similar document. Defendant then files an Answer or other response. Subsequently, the plaintiff may file a document in response. This back and forth can go on for several rounds. After this is completed, and  … Read more

If your employer does not have workers’ compensation insurance, you can still recover workers’ compensation benefits when injured on the job. The Uninsured Employer Guaranty Fund (“the Fund”) was created by the Pennsylvania Legislature in 2006 to cover payment of benefits for work-related injuries occurring on or after January 8, 2007 under the Workers’ Compensation  … Read more

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court shook up the landscape of Workers Compensation in Protz v. WCAB (Derry Area School Dist.) — a broad and sweeping decision. The decision wholly invalidated Section 306(a.2) of the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act, thereby eliminating the impairment rating evaluation (“IRE”) structure. Under the structure of Section 306(a.2), claimants were evaluated and  … Read more

The Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act protects any individual injured at work, regardless of immigration status. Generally, an injured worker is entitled to wage loss and medical treatment for his or her work related injury. An unauthorized alien is always entitled to medical treatment for a work injury without any limitation. However, recovering wage loss benefits  … Read more

It is now clear that the current administration has prioritized deporting criminal aliens from this country and is committed to putting a lot of people and resources behind this goal. Unfortunately, individuals without any criminal background are getting swept up in this process too. In at least one case, the administration deported a “dreamer,” an  … Read more

In workers’ compensation cases an injured employee will frequently have a cause of action not only against his employer but also against the third party tortfeasor who contributed to his work injury. If an employee receives a settlement from the third party tortfeasor the employer is entitled to pursue it’s subrogation rights against the employee’s  … Read more

The benefits provided to employees under the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act (hereinafter “Act”) are not limited solely to Pennsylvania employees who suffer work related injuries while working within the Commonwealth. Under certain circumstances, the extraterritorial provisions of the Act will extend coverage to those employees who sustain work related injuries outside the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.  … Read more

I recently wrote an article which described the basics of the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act. In summary, I pointed out that if a person is injured in the course of his employment in Pennsylvania, he could be entitled to wage loss replacement benefits and medical benefits. Also, if the accident involved a third party then  … Read more

Workers’ Compensation is a type of insurance that provides employees with cash benefits and medical care if they become disabled and cannot work because of an injury or illness that is related to their job. Almost all employees in Pennsylvania are entitled to workers’ compensation benefits if they suffer a work-related injury because the law  … Read more

The Law Offices of John D. Pallante recently secured a 2.75 million-dollar settlement for an injured pedestrian in Philadelphia. The accident occurred in April of 2015, while the client was walking by a theatre in the Chinatown section of center city Philadelphia. The theatre had a show that night and a truck delivering equipment for  … Read more

The Law Offices of John D. Pallante received a final judgment in the amount of 3 million dollars from the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania for an injured worker who lost all the fingers on his left hand while operating a dangerous machine. On April 29, 2011, the Plaintiff was working on a  … Read more

Pennsylvania courts are notoriously slow in catching up to the rest of society in general, and in divorce and custody cases in particular.  Complicating matters is the fact that there are 67 counties in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and very few of those counties are conducting custody cases in the exact same way as their  … Read more

In Pennsylvania, if you have a child with someone else and you do not live together with that person, either of you may file a complaint for child support. Each county may have its own particular procedures and timelines, but the amount of support is determined by a set of guidelines (i.e., “the Guidelines”) which  … Read more

When you and your co-parent separate or divorce, you must come up with a parenting plan for your children. These plans are usually broken down into school year, summers/vacation and holidays. As September rolls around, the carefree summer arrangements you had for your school-aged child are phased out and you must get into “back to  … Read more

One of the most common questions I receive from clients who are divorcing is, what are we dividing? The answer has more to do with when you received an asset rather than who has title to it. Say that you were married in 1995 and decided to divorce in 2015. While you were married, you  … Read more

When winter’s brutal winds turn into spring’s warm breezes and the flowers are in bloom, parents’ thoughts turn to summer time and vacation. If you are lucky enough to be able to travel outside of the country, you want to take your children with you. But your co-parent is not agreeing to it. Now what?  … Read more

You and your child’s other parent (your co-parent) have told each other that you’re going to work things out outside of court and agree to a parenting plan. You’ve always gotten along well as co-parents but your relationship as spouses or significant others have fallen apart. You like your co-parent but agree that it’s not  … Read more

What happens when you cannot get along with your child’s other parent (co-parent) and you decide to go your separate ways? That could be either through filing a divorce complaint or, if you’ve never been married to the co-parent, filing a custody complaint. You can start the complaint yourself or, if you are unfamiliar with  … Read more

If you are getting divorced and you have any type of marital property, you will need to undergo the process known as equitable distribution. What is equitable distribution, you ask? It is really just a fancy name for dividing up any property that you and your soon to be ex-spouse acquired during your marriage. That  … Read more

A recent Montgomery County, Pennsylvania case, Plisinski v. Plisinski, dealt with something known as alimony pendente lite, or APL for short. APL is a type of support usually paid between spouses while their divorce is pending but not yet final. The question in Plisinski was whether APL should continue during the appeal process, when it  … Read more

Child custody consists of two basic “types” of custody, i.e. physical custody and legal custody. Physical custody is where the child lives or spends overnights. Legal custody is the decision making process; this includes medical, educational and religious decision making. These two together are what makes up the majority of issues that parents fight about  … Read more