Recently, one of the largest workers’ compensation settlements in the history of California was reached by an insurance company on behalf of a former California painter that suffered a traumatic brain injury. Just how large is one of the largest ever? $8.9 million structured to be paid out monthly over the remainder of the victim’s life.
The now 26-year-old victim fell 20 feet from a scaffold while he was working as a painter. Reportedly, the man suffered severe brain damage leading to depression, anxiety, psychosis, cognitive deficits, self-mutilation and an additional diagnosis of multiple personality disorder. The accident happened at the time that the man was 18 years old.
It is reported that the boy’s father was taking care of him in addition to trying to hold down a job. When it all got to be too much, the father placed the boy in the care of a rehabilitation facility day and night in order to maintain his job. One man is recorded as saying that if it were not for this settlement, which will likely enable the father to spend more time with his injured son, the man fears that the son would have been abandoned as the stress of it all began to run the father down. Whether this would have occurred is hard to say.
What can be said is that when a victim suffers a catastrophic injury, such as this young man suffered when he fell, they may need care for the remainder of their life. Owing to the cost of a lifetime of treatment, settlements paid out by insurance companies can become rather substantial as is the case in this settlement of $8.9 million in California.
Source: Insurance Journal, “Lawyer Claims Highest Known Workers’ Comp Settlement in California History,” Don Jergler, Mar. 7, 2012