The Court Trial 2005

When I was injured in 2004 at work, it turned into a big fight against Workers’ Comp to be able to keep getting paid and have my medical taken care of for the my bad arm. They gave me one month after the injury, then their doctor said there was nothing wrong with me and cut me off of Workers’ Comp.  I went nine months with no income.  Our trial was held on July 14th, 2005.  Here’s the story of going through that trial.

June 29th 2005, we went into court, thinking our case was going to be that day.  Though the judge has 39 cases. Roger, my lawyer, sits down to talk to us. He talks about settling, saying that Workers’ Comp would be willing to settle out of court for $20,000 to $30,000. Though that is a low amount and won't cover living for more than a year. I tell him I can't do that, I need workers’ comp, I need the medical as I want my arm to get better. So, he tells me how about we come up with something where they have to pay less back pay and pick me up. I agreed to that.  He went and talked to the other lawyer and they refused. So we came up with an amount we'd be willing settle for, an amount that would pay my medical bills and make it so I can still live for the next few years. Though they got this lady judge to hear both sides of the case and tell me what she thinks I should do.  This is when things got bad.

The judge, who I don't even want to remember her name cause she upset me so bad. She stood there and heard both lawyers, my first time seeing the Workers’ Comp’s Lawyer.  Then sent the Workers’ Comp lawyer out of the room. Next thing I know the judge is tearing me apart, telling me how bad my case is and how I don't have a chance to win, as she tries to blame my arm problems on MS and was trying to act as though this isn't a real case at all. She treated me like I'm only there for money.  I wanted to slap her she pissed me off so bad. I was fighting back the tears as she said lines like "There's a 90% chance of you losing your case" and "Maybe it'll be better if you're off the medications".  She was cold and rude. I couldn't wait to get out of there. My mom was having a hard time not crying seeing how this lady was treating me. I left the room, kind of hiding my face as we got to the exit.  The tears started to flow.  My lawyer brought us in a room and gave me a pep talk, though I still I felt sick.

Here is what the other side of this case has to throw to the judge. Back in 2003, I was working at a BP gas station and my back went out very badly.  I fell to the ground and we never found out what caused this.  It took a long time for the pain to go away.  That's what they threw at us. They threw that in our face, to me that's got NOTHING to do with this. Though they pointed out that I asked to be tested for MS and that my mom has MS. Though what's going on with me has NOTHING to do with MS. Then my lawyer brought up on the phone how I didn't get the restrictions lifted until May. The reasons those stupid things were on me so long is because we were seeing the back specialist, still trying to figure out what caused the problem and if my back was going to be ok. Though we thought my medical was being dropped, so we left the back specialist thinking I couldn't afford it.  What month was the medical being dropped? May. Then I had the restrictions dropped so I could get the job at the factory.

They're going to try and say that I pop pain pills because I asked for a refill of some high pain pill that I can't even say the name of! Now whenever I go to the doctors and still having problems with something and a medication is getting low I ask them "Do I need a refill of this medication?"  Well, the doctor in his notes said that he "WON'T refill" and named two other medications, as if I was begging for the pills.  Anyone who knows me knows I hate taking medications. I have so much Motrin 800 around here because the doctors keep giving it to me, even though I have bottles left at home unfinished. I had these other painkillers, Vicodin and Vicodin Extra Strength, both of which still had pills in them.  The Vicodin was filled on November 10th 2004 and Vicodin Extra Strength filled on March 31st, 2005.  Is this the signs of a pill popper?  I only take the medications when I need them! I was given a good Morphine pill, this is to help me when I need to sleep.  I would go three to four nights and sometimes longer without sleep before taking these pills.  If I take these pills, I can't drive the next day and I feel out of it the next day, so I don't take these pills too often. I was given 35 pills on April 7, 2005, there were 29 of these pills still left on June 2005.  That's another thing they're going to try and use against me.  I was totally ready for that.

The court date was moved to 8:15am on July 14th, my dad's Birthday.  So I had to wait longer.  The night before, it was very hard to sleep.  I spent a lot of hours tossing and turning. I woke up around 6:30am and started getting ready.  I ended up wearing all black, you'd think I was going to a funeral. To add some color I put on a blue jacket, also to keep my arm warm in a cool building, and to have pockets. Then we headed out the door.   We didn't get there till after 8:20am. Roger, my lawyer, was waiting in the hallway for me. My parents came up on an elevator not too long after I got up there.

Roger was reviewing my case and talked to me a little bit, making sure that I knew it'd be two months before I would hear the results and four months, if lucky before I see money. Then told my mom and dad that it'd be best if they wait in the hallway because if needed at all as witness for anything, they cannot be used later if they watch the trial. So, as heartbreaking as it was for them, they went out in the hall to wait as I sat alone in a chair next to my lawyer’s bags.

Roger sat at a table next to the OTHER Lawyer, I'll call him WC for Workers’ Comp. They were going over files, placing papers on the table, talking to each other and even sharing files, which totally took me by surprise. I took this time to stare out the window, to try and breath a bit. I was nervous, but I didn't want to show it, not in there. I believed in myself, I believed in my case, and I know justice will have to pull through. Through the window I could see the old buildings of Pontiac, some tree lines going off out of sight. It was a nice view and did help me settle down a bit.

At one point, Roger got up to walk out of the room to make some copies. I looked up to see the judge come in the room. Now in my history of learning anything in court TV shows, movies about court, and news about court, when the judge comes in someone is supposed to say "ALL RISE!" Though no one said anything, nothing big happened, nothing was done at all, besides WC talking to him about papers that they needed. I watched as the judge gave him a paper and went to get one for Roger. Then Roger returned and the judge came back with the papers for Roger and they both started to fill out the papers. This was all new to me, it seemed like a school day when the teacher passed out a paper and said "I want your name and date on the paper, but don't look at it till I start the timer."  After the two lawyers finished sorting their papers and all was ready.  The judge started a BIG clock on the front of his desk, talking to both lawyers with opening statements.

Roger got to go first, as he called me to the stand. I went up there and sat down, not far from the judge, who seemed like a nice man in his early 40's.  I didn't feel too weird sitting up there. I answered all of Roger’s questions as best as I could. The only thing WC could object to was when I'd start to explain something, but it took hearsay to explain it. Then my lawyer would ask clear cut questions. It was annoying having him break my train of thought like that, but I understood and wanted to get this taken care of.

Roger did a great job at covering everything, what I did at work, how I got hurt, what medications I'm on, what doctors I saw, what I did at past jobs, why I can't do any of these jobs anymore, how many times I take my medications, costume work, depression, effects of pain, how the pain feels, when it hurts the most, cold causing pain, and overall feel of who I am type questions. I was happy with this, I felt good and got everything out with no problem as Roger knew what he was doing, better than I would've thought he did. Though he proved this more when WC got to ask me questions.

WC got up and started to ask about work.  He went back to when I got out of high school, when I first started working, what jobs I did, like Naama Karate, Jeepers, and Hampton Inn were not on the list that Roger asked me about. WC then started asking doctor questions, like how I felt about some of them. I was open in answering how I felt, like about one guy who did the first EMG and was able to get me off of Workers’ Comp even though he wasn't my doctor. Though I also spoke highly of some of my other doctors I had while still under Workers’ Comp, to show I did not have a problem with everyone. Rick, my physical therapist, got a lot of praise from me for doing great at his job. He then started to go off subject. He brought up MS, and Roger popped up "I Object!" The judge agreed, as it had nothing to do with this case. Then he brought up the injury of 2003 and tried to read files and ask if I know anything about it..  Once again "I Object!" came from Roger as it was known as hearsay and had nothing to do with this trial.  The Judge did not seem happy with this either.

Roger got to cross question me.  I answered everything for him, most of which ruling out anything that's got to do with that back injury of 2003 with what is wrong with my arm now and he did it real well.  At first, I didn't know where he was going with it, though he did make his point clear and I followed. It felt like all was good and out of the blue one last thing came up...

WC had another question. "When you first talked about what happened in these files you said it was 5 to 10 seconds, then you went to 10 to 15. Today you said 15, it seems your number keeps going up."

"Well when I first gave 5 to 10, I was still in shock at the time. Though later when thinking about it, I had time to get shocked, realize I can't move, think about screaming, scream, stop screaming and try to move again before it released me. So I realized that happened in more than 10 seconds, though I haven't and won't go over 15 seconds."

"FOR NOW" He spoke hard and angered.

"OBJECT! Arguemental!" Roger said standing up, realizing that WC was getting out of control there.

"I won't have this in my court" the judge agreed.

Soon after the trial was done, I said goodbye to the judge, even shook his hand and talked with Roger on the way out.  He really surprised me in how well he handled himself in the courtroom and I felt inside that the trial went well. For us. I was hoping with all my heart that the judge sees the truth in all he learned today. I know I didn't give all my answers, though I was in there from 8:30 until 11:00am, that'd take too long to type.

Once I came out in the hall, I saw my mom and dad and got hugs. We went downstairs and got outside and talked about the case with Roger. Then headed out to enjoy my dad's birthday.  The rest of the day went well. Took my dad out for ice cream for his birthday, hung out with Belle, talked with both my sister and brother, then took dad out for dinner. It was a full and enjoyable day.

That Fall, it was announced I won my court case, though Worker Comp tried to appeal it.  I was getting a small check weekly until March 2007, when I fully won my case.  Workers’ Comp is taking care of my medical bills for the RSD, including the surgery I had last year and I get a weekly check, until I can get a job where I make as much as I use to make.

My goal now is healing up from the surgery and trying to get things together to start my own business.  I do not wish to rely on Workers’ Comp as my income for the rest of my life.  Now that I got my surgery, I want to finally work on the goals of opening a Ninja Turtles Museum, a job I can enjoy and share with fellow TMNT fans.

Have you ever had to go through a fight with Workers’ Comp?  Feel free to share your stories in the comment section below.  All Comments and Questions are welcomed!