Pittsburgh TTH Attorneys, Paul Crooks and Lee Ann Rhodes, won a hard-fought workers’ compensation case involving mental/psychological injuries alleged by a police officer. The Claimant, a police officer for a local township, was seeking total disability benefits for psychological injuries sustained when he retrieved a dead woman’s body from a local retention pond. Although the officer had many years of experience dealing with dead bodies (one of his duties included forensic crime scene investigation), he alleged that in the process of retrieving the body, the deceased woman reached out and grabbed his arm with her hand, thus leading him to nightmares, flashbacks, and inability to continue working due to PTSD. Through skillful cross examination and presentation of employer witnesses, Paul made an effective case that the Claimant’s account of events was simply not credible and that the Claimant did not experience an abnormal working condition (the legal standard to recover for purely mental injuries at the time of the filing). Lee Ann wrote a legally concise and persuasive brief which tied all the salient facts and law together, enabling the WCJ to find in our client’s favor.

Questions regarding this case can be directed to Paul Crooks at 412.926.1418 or pcrooks@tthlaw.com or Lee Ann Rhodes at 412.926.1453 or lrhodes@tthlaw.com.