Please E-mail suggested additions, comments and/or corrections to Kent@MoreLaw.Com.
Date: 11-09-2021
Case Style:
Case Number:
Judge: Jane W. Pfeifle
Court: Circuit Court, Pennington County, South Dakota
Plaintiff's Attorney:
Defendant's Attorney: Thomas D. Warren and Jack H. Hieb
Description: Rapid City, South Dakota personal injury lawyer represented Plaintiff, who sued Defendants on wrongful bad faith denial of workers' compensation medical benefits.
Fern Johnson is a former UPS employee. In November 1995, she began experiencing pain in her lower right groin. (R.185.) She consulted her gynecologist, thinking her groin pain arose from her chronic endometriosis, a non-work-related condition. Her doctor performed a laparoscopy procedure in January 1996, which revealed that Johnson suffered from a hernia. A month later, Johnson underwent a combined surgery for a hysterectomy (to treat her endometriosis) and hernia repair.
Johnson returned to work later that spring, but her active employment with UPS ended in December 1997, when she suffered both groin and back pain while loading packages at UPS.
Johnson filed a workers’ compensation complaint in 1996, seeking benefits and expenses relating to her combined surgery, as well as other benefits. In 2002, a DOL administrative law judge determined that Johnson’s ongoing groin pain had not been caused by her employment at UPS. The ALJ also rejected Johnson’s claims that she had suffered a wrist injury at work, and found that she was not entitled to benefits for her lower back condition either. The ALJ did, however, find that Johnson’s hernia operation in 1996 was work-related, and found that temporary benefits associated with her recovery from surgery were reasonable.
Johnson filed multiple appeals over the next several years. (R.187-88.) In February 2006, the DOL rejected her requests for permanent partial disability benefits and for medical expenses related to her 1996 hernia surgery. The circuit court disagreed in part, and the DOL followed with an order finding that Johnson’s groin pain was causally related to her employment (the “Order” or “2006 Order”). (R.373-74.) “The exact name of the condition or the injury was not a finding, but . . . doctors had diagnosed it as a neuroma (impingement of nerve scar tissue) or a ‘casualgia’ or a ‘neuralgia’ (nerve-related pain).” (R.16.)
The Order provided that Johnson was entitled to “necessary, suitable, and proper medical expenses casually related to her work-related groin condition.” (R.374.) It did not specify what types of treatments or expenses were necessary,
or for how long treatment would be necessary. Nor did the Order specify that, going forward, the DOL was the entity that would determine whether any particular treatment was necessary.
Outcome: Plaintiff's verdict for $1 million in compensatory damages and $44 million in punitive damages.
Plaintiff's Experts:
Defendant's Experts:
Comments: