Facts

Plaintiff Antonio Flores was injured in a trench accident in 2000. The case was initially filed as a personal injury action against the operator of the backhoe that lost of control of the equipment and collided into the manhole shaft pinning the plaintiff in the trench and as a serious and willful misconduct against the employer 4-Point at the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board.

The plaintiff's personal injury case was settled for the amount of $500,000. The workers' compensation carrier then demanded credit in the amount of $300,000 before payment of additional workers' compensation benefits. The credit issue and the serious and willful misconduct of the employer were tried before the Hon. Ronald Smitter for four days beginning on June 19, 2007. The offer prior to trial for future workers' compensation benefits and the serious and willful complaint was $3,000.

After the four-day trial on the case, the court found that: the total value of Flores' personal injury case was $1,750,000; that the employer was 80 percent responsible; that the insurance carrier owed medical and/or workers' compensation benefits up to $1.4 million; that there was no comparative negligence of the applicant; that plaintiff had met his burden of proof, beyond clear and convincing evidence that the employer was guilty of three instances of serious and willful misconduct.

The court held, by a standard beyond clear and convincing evidence, that the employer knew of the serious risk of harm and willfully placed the employee in a position of risk. On five alleged counts, the court found the employer guilty of three serious and willful violations, awarding penalties equivalent to punitive damages against the employer of $184,037, and an additional 50 percent of each benefit the applicant receives up to the sum of $1.4 million.

Settlement Discussions

Defendant made an offer for $3,000.

Result

Bench decision for $184,037 plus 50 percent of all future benefits to $1.4 million. Judicial award for $1,750,000

Other Information

Defendant filed a petition for reconsideration.