Workers’ Compensation - Award of Workers’ Compensation Benefits Affirmed by Commonwealth Court in a Published Decision

Our client was a 52 year old carpenter who fell forty feet from a roof while working on a new housing plan in the eastern part of Allegheny County. The building company was owned by an out-of-state firm which attempted to argue that our client was not an employee of the company, but rather the employee of an uninsured subcontractor who they had also brought with them from out of state. The company also argued that as they owned the property, they could not be liable as the statutory employer, and that our client was not entitled to workers' compensation benefits. We argued that our client was the statutory employee of the general contractor and a workers' compensation judge (WCJ) agreed. The Workers' Compensation Appeal Board, however, reversed the WCJ. The Commonwealth Court, in a unanimous decision, affirmed the award of benefits. Verlin Gann v. MBS Management, 792 A.2d 701 (Pa. Commw. 2002). We handled the workers' compensation case before the WCJ and also the appeal to the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania.

The Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, law office of Ogg Murphy & Perkosky represents individuals and families involving injuries and accidental deaths throughout Western Pennsylvania, including Erie, Greensburg, New Castle, Sharon, Uniontown, Waynesburg, Beaver, Cranberry Township, Washington, Canonsburg, Butler, Kittanning, Ford City, Ellwood City and Johnstown. We represent clients in Allegheny County, Butler County, Beaver County, Westmoreland County, Washington County and handle cases from Fayette County and Greene County to the south, Lawrence County and Clarion County to the north, Cambria County, Blair County and Indiana County to the east.