Norfolk, VA Personal Injury Attorney Reports: Fraudulent Disability Claims Make Life Hard for All Rail Employees

Rick is a Virginia injury attorney who handles car accidents, medical malpractice, FELA, wrongful death, etc.

11/2/2011
Richard N. Shapiro
Comments (0)

Norfolk, VA Personal Injury Attorney Reports: Fraudulent Disability Claims Make Life Hard for All Rail Employees

As Virginia Beach, VA-based FELA attorneys, my law firm colleagues have decades of experience fighting for, and securing, compensation for railroad employees injured, sickened and killed by the work they did on trains, along tracks and in rail yards. We work closely with clients and their doctors to determine the cause and extent of their injuries or diseases, and we only move forward with a case against a defendant rail corporation if we are sure that compensation is deserved and will not be forthcoming without a lawsuit.

We trust our clients, who trust their health care providers. But we are also ethical, experienced and worldly-wise enough to know that we must verify all potential disability and wrongful death claims involving railroaders.

This is why I was deeply disappointed, but not shocked, to read that the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York on October 27, 2001, filed dozens of federal felony charges against seven former Long Island Railroad employees and two doctors for allegedly participating in a years-long scheme to concoct false diagnoses of disabling work-related injuries and illnesses so the LIRR employees could take early retirement and receive lifetimes of disability payments. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan estimate that the fraud has already cost the Railroad Retirement Board fund $300 million and could have resulted in more than $1 billion in unearned payments if left undetected.

My colleagues and I usually represent Amtrak, CSX and Norfolk Southern workers who have legitimate claims under the Federal Employers' Liability Act, the Locomotive Safety Inspection Act and the Safety Appliance Act. We also consult on RRB cases. Because of this, we know that charges like the ones leveled against the LIRR retirees will make our jobs -- and our clients' cases -- more difficult. As U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said when announcing he had filed the charges, "In these tough economic times -- with stretched budgets, rising costs, frozen wages, and unemployed people -- it is especially disheartening to think that railroad employees would tell a train of lies to pad their early retirements, and that a handful of doctors would traffic on the credibility of their profession to promote a culture of fraud."

As the LIRR fraud case plays out and for years afterward, lawyers defending railroads and members of the public will have grounds for being at least a little suspicious of any person who brings a disability claim against a former rail employer. When a railroader attempts to defraud a retirement system or company, that person commits more than a crime. He or she makes it more difficult for all individuals to receive deserved compensation for on-the-job injuries, illnesses and deaths.

EJL

Category: Railroad Injury/FELA

Labels: Amtrak CSX disability claims doctors ethical injury attorney FELA lawyers fraud lawsuits Long Island Railroad New York Norfolk Southern railroad injury claims Railroad Retirement Board Shapiro VA Virginia work-related illness

About the Editors: Shapiro, Lewis & Appleton is a Virginia injury law firm whose attorneys focus on personal injury and accident law and have handled hundreds of Federal Employers' Liability Act claims for railroad workers hurt or made ill while doing their rail jobs. We also have represented many people injured in train accidents. Please take a few moments to review our railroad injury case results. Our primary offices are in Virginia Beach and Hampton, VA, but we're ready to come to you anywhere in Virginia if you've been seriously hurt by someone else's carelessness.

Rick Shapiro and James Lewis have been included among the Best Lawyers in America since 2008, and have been named Virginia Super Lawyers for Personal Injury Law since 2010. Fewer than 5 percent of lawyers are chosen for this professional honor.

In addition, we were the first injury law firm in Virginia to join Primerus, a select group of highly ethical and respected law firms. Our firm has the highest rating of AV from Martindale-Hubbell, a national lawyer ranking organization, which means we have a reputation for preeminent legal skill. Our attorneys have even been included in the National Million Dollar Advocates Forum since 2009.

We would like to send you one of our free reports about railroad injury and FELA cases, including Dos & Don'ts When Injured at a Railroad: Your FELA Rights and What Railroad Claim Agents Agents Won't Tell You (But You Must Know).

While not every injury case meets our criteria, we offer a free initial confidential injury case consultations, so call us toll free at (800) 752-0042. If you cannot get through due to high call volume, please leave a voicemail so we can return your call.

There are no comments.

Search Our Site

Get help Now!

Practice Areas

Norfolk, VA Personal Injury Attorney Reports: Fraudulent Disability Claims Make Life Hard for All Rail Employees

Post a comment