Congratulations to Celine Vitale, Esq., who recently had an award entered for Total Disability for a truck driver who injured his neck and shoulder while moving a pallet jack. Due to his injuries, Celine’s client underwent a cervical fusion at the C3-4 and C4-5 vertebrae and a left shoulder arthroscopic repair and subacromial decompression.
As part of the settlement negotiated by Celine, her client will receive benefits from the State of New Jersey Second Injury Fund (SIF), which assumes the obligation of paying permanent disability benefits to disabled workers following an initial period of payments made by their employers.
In this case, this means that the employer’s workers’ compensation insurer will pay $200,340 to Celine’s client over a period of time, after which the State of New Jersey will continue to pay benefits for the rest of their life while they remain 100% disabled and unable to return to the workforce. This is a substantial recovery for Celine’s client, and a result that speaks to her wealth of experience representing claimants in high stakes workers’ compensation matters.
Celine M. Vitale is an Associate at Levinson Axelrod, P.A. with nearly 20 years of experience representing plaintiffs and claimants in personal injury, workers’ compensation, and Social Security disability claims. With her personalized approach and trial skills, she’s helped clients across New Jersey recover millions in compensation.