Trial Teams At Work

Our Trial Team is Fighting for You

The courts and workers’ compensation commissions in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia continue to navigate the stay-at-home orders in each jurisdiction. Our trial team has been actively involved in the reopen plans for many of the courts and commissions so that our clients can get their day in court, even if that is done virtually.

The Maryland Workers’ Compensation Commission has scheduled hearings, both in person and by web conference beginning June 8, 2020. In Virginia, the Workers’ Compensation Commission will begin in-person hearings on June 11, 2020. They will continue virtual hearings as scheduled. The DC Office of Workers’ Compensation is also scheduling virtual and telephonic hearings. We continue to monitor the reopening plans for the courts in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia. Civil trial dates have been scheduled for the fall. We are working on your cases. If you have any questions about your case, a postponement or how we continue to work for you while working from home, please do not hesitate to contact us.

David Kapson
The Compensation Review Board, in a unanimous decision by all of its members, agreed that the concept of “apportionment” does not exist in the District of Columbia workers’ compensation system. This means that, even if an injured worker has had a prior injury and re-injures that same body part while at work, their employer and its insurance company must not only provide full lost wage benefits and medical treatment, but are also completely responsible for the resulting permanent injuries and effects of those injuries. This is a victory because the employer and insurer were attempting to limit their responsibility to only the new injury, without consideration of our client’s prior injuries, which would have created a financial windfall for the insurance company while leaving our client not fully cared for as a result of his work injury.

Shari Boscolo and Alex Rogosa
Shari had a big month. She settled a case for a DC police officer who was on bike patrol. The officer was struck on the bike when a car failed to stop at a stop sign and hit the officer causing multiple injuries including a broken wrist. And she was able to resolve a case for a client who tripped over a broken post in a parking lot as she was going into a business. The post through removed still had part of its base protruding from the ground. And the shopping center had been aware of the condition for a month. Shari is a super-hero because she resolved both of these cases with the courts closed.

Ben Boscolo and Melody Hayes
Defendant rear-ended car in which our clientl was a front seat passenger. Defendant alleged that driver of the car that our client was in, cut him off. Driver of the car in which our client was a passenger alleged he stopped because a phantom vehicle cut him off. Initially filed against only Defendant . After discovery added driver of our client’s car (Erie). The trial was set in March. We prepared for trial including motions to limit the evidence and took several depositions to preserve testimony for trial. The case got continued to the fall. Negotiations resulted in a settlement for almost 4 times the pre-litigation offer.

Mike Reiter
Mike Reiter handled a case for our client where the insurance company was initially contesting liability despite there being no legitimate liability argument. Our client suffered a traumatic brain injury. We told the insurance company from the outset that it was worth the full policy limits and the insurance company eventually came to their senses and tendered the full policy before we had to file suit.

Mike Duncanson, Tom Teodori and Mike Reiter
Our client was injured in a car collision when the defendant took a turn too fast and struck our client head on. Our client’s arbitration hearing was on February 20, 2020. The last settlement offer before arbitration was under $25,000.00 On March 17, 2020, after we started working from home, the arbitration order was issued and our client was awarded more that three times the last offer.

Our client was injured in a car collision on April 27, 2017. As a result of the crash she underwent surgery on March 4, 2020 on her right ulnar nerve. Mike Reiter and Mike Duncanson held firm and secured the policy limits carried by the defendant. Now we can pursue additional coverage in the case. If successful, we can triple the result for our client.

Skaketta Denson
Throughout the life of this case, Shaketta Denson and her teammates have had to fight more than usual for her client as a result of the defendants’ lack of participation. After failing to participate in written discovery and depositions, the defendants attempted to use the Coid-19 virus as a tactic to further delay the case. Subsequent to Mrs. Denson winning a motion compelling the defendants to provide written discovery responses, she won a second motion compelling the defendants to produce recorded statements, which they refused to produce claiming work-product. But wait…that’s not all. Mrs. Denson celebrated a third motion victory, compelling the defendants to appear for remote depositions amidst the pandemic, proving that this unprecedented time in our country has required everyone to adapt and utilize foreign technology and procedure, and that even defendants and defense attorneys must be held to this nationwide standard. When ChasenBoscolo says we will fight for you, we mean it. Hats off to Shak and her team.

Tom Teodori
Like this time we are experiencing, Tom had two almost unprecedented wins against a high risk automobile insurer, who has a reputation for low ball offers, delays and refusing to pay policy limits. Tom got this insurance company to pay policy limits for not just one of his clients, but two of them.