A cooperative company, called Associated Milk Producers, Inc., has been cited for failing to provide adequate safety measures for employees, after the company's truck driver was killed when he fell off the top of his truck.

The fifty-year old worker was not wearing a safety harness as he was cleaning his truck and died after falling ten feet and hitting the concrete ground. The cooperative was issued a willful citation, which accused the it of being indifferent to the death of an employee.

The cooperative claims that they have always had safety harnesses available to prevent injuries in the case of a fall, but they will now require employees to wear the harnesses.

If you or someone you love has suffered injuries caused by an employer's neglect, please contact the Cedar Rapids workers' compensation lawyers of the Pete Leehey Law Firm, P.C. at 319-294-4424.

A worker for the parks and recreation department in Clinton, Tennessee was seriously injured while at work on February 8, 2011.

As the man was working, his clothes got caught in a moving tractor piece, which caused his right arm to be injured. The man's co-worker came to his aid to stop the bleeding. The man was conscious as he was air-lifted to the medical center at UT.

News on the man's current condition has not been released, but our thoughts are with his friends and family.

If you or a loved one has suffered personal injuries while at work, please contact the Cedar Rapids workers' compensation attorneys of the Pete Leehey Law Firm, P.C. at 319-294-4424.

J.E. Adams Industries, a Cedar Rapids company, has been cited by the state under the Iowa Occupational and Safety Health Act. The company makes parts for self-service car washes, according to KCRG.

An accident occurred on May 4, and a man, 43, lost part of his hand on the job. According to KCRG, the company "allegedly failed to provide point of operation guards for a machine that a 43-year-old man was operating when he was injured." The fine for a violation of this magnitude is $2,500. It also requires that the company install the point of operation guards by the 23rd of August.

The company has the right to protest the violations and fine within 15 days of receiving the ticket. After that, everything is final.

Workplace accident are serious. They can leave you severely injured, permanently maimed, or worse. If you or someone you know has been injured on the job, contact an experienced Cedar Rapids Workers' Compensation Lawyer at the Pete Leehey Law Firm, P.C., by dialing 877-209-9452.

I can’t begin to explain how sick I am of workers’ compensation insurance companies that jack people around. I just talked to a gentleman this morning who has been trying to handle his claim on his own. It came time for his second medical opinion, which by law, the insurance company must “reimburse” him for. Yes, technically, the insurance company can force this man to pay for the second opinion, and then reimburse him the cost. That is exactly what this insurance company is insisting on. How foolish is that?

It’s foolish, because this man may have never contacted me or any other lawyer if the company would just pay for the second opinion directly. Now, I’m involved (I’ll front the damn money), and this insurance company is going to pay the fair value of the claim when it’s all said and done, instead of paying pennies on the dollar like they thought they could do with this guy. The whole scheme tumbled down because the insurance company refused to pay for the second opinion outright, but instead insisted on reimbursing the worker.

Another scenario I was presented with this morning: Injured worker gets approval to go to the doctor after her work injury. The insurance company then refuses to pay the $37.00 radiology bill that was a part of the appointment. All this lady wanted was to get her medical bills paid. If the insurance company had paid the $37.00 bill, this lady probably never contacts me. I am quite confident that this insurance company will now pay that medical bill, plus several thousand dollars in weekly benefits that they otherwise would have cheated this poor woman out of.

If workers’ compensation companies would quit playing games with people, if they would treat injured workers’ with some small degree of respect, I wouldn’t get nearly as many calls. I guess I should thank these insurance companies for keeping me jacked up over the stupid things they do to injured workers. The biggest abusers of the workers’ compensation system, far and away, are the insurance companies. I’m honored to take these out-of-control insurance companies on in the name of good, hard-working Iowans.

I’ve found myself devoting much of my work time to filing literally every claim I am currently handling. This is not a good development.

Years ago, I was able to resolve many claims promptly and reasonably with insurance adjusters. It was prudent practice to wait on filing cases until the case was fully ready for settlement. In most cases, this would completely avoid litigation, and the need for the insurance company to hire a lawyer. The result was that cases were concluded about a year faster, and with less expense for all involved. That is no longer the situation.

Now, it seems that to get an insurance company to talk seriously (as in reasonably) about settlement, you have to file the case, go through paper discovery and depositions, and have a trial date looming ominously. Then, “on the courthouse steps” the insurance adjusters finally want to talk settlement. So, insurance industry, when you find yourselves asking “why are you filing your cases right away?” the answer is to avoid the absurd delays caused by the complete inattention of most of the insurance industry.

I file my clients’ cases right away, because if I wait untll the cases are settlement-ready, and then wait several more weeks until I figure out that the insurance adjuster isn’t going to be reasonable and timely talk settlement, I end up wasting months toward the ultimate conclusion of the case. So, I file right away. The insurance industry hires their lawyers right away. The defense lawyers educate the insurance adjusters why they should consider prompt settlement.

The insurance adjusters nonetheless ignore their lawyers until the last minute, when there is a trial date on the immediate horizon. Then guess what? The insurance adjusters get reasonable, pay attention to the case, and get it settled on reasonable terms. The same settlement could have been reached months earlier and without the expenditure of thousands of dollars, but the insurance industry has forced my hand. So, I file right away. I do a better job for my clients, because I force the insurance adjusters to pay attention to their files. The case gets concluded faster.

You, insurance industry, have brought about this situation. It is unfortunate, but it is on your doorstep. You’re not doing your jobs. You’re causing needless litigation. When the insurance industry predictably cries about all the lawsuits, don’t listen. Do the same thing the insurance industry does when lawyers try to reach early resolution of cases: Ignore them.