$2.3M awarded in comp-related case

BELFAST – A Waldo County woman has won a $2.3 million default judgment against a Portland lawyer she claimed failed to represent her properly in a workers’ compensation case.

Superior Court Justice John Atwood handed down the $2,271,537.84 default judgment on behalf of Theresa Knight of Morrill. The judge granted Knight $1,930,500 for medical expenses and $341,037.84 in lost workers’ compensation benefits.

Atwood issued the ruling after Knight’s attorney, William Wilson, failed to show up in court to respond to a July 2001 lawsuit Knight brought against Wilson. She had charged Wilson with negligence when representing her before the Workers’ Compensation Board that February.

In her suit Knight charged that Wilson “failed to file medical evidence at the conclusion of the hearing, despite repeated telephone calls from the commissioners” hearing the case.

As a result of Wilson’s actions, Knight’s claim for compensation stemming from a work-related injury suffered four years earlier was denied.

“He knew of the pending suit, he knew what damage had been caused, knew what was on the horizon and still failed to answer in any way or appear at the hearing,” Knight’s attorney, Chad A. Cloutier of Rockport, said Monday.

Repeated attempts to reach Wilson at his law office in Portland were unsuccessful.

“This case highlights the importance of the obligations attorneys have toward their clients. This case demonstrates that if you detract from that obligation, you can seriously harm your client. It is inexcusable,” Cloutier said.

Cloutier said he believes Atwood made the decision because the medical evidence in the case clearly indicated that Knight would have succeeded in her claim for workers’ compensation benefits had it been presented to the compensation board. He noted that claims couldn’t be brought back to the board once they are turned down.

“We had to show it was more likely than not that she would have prevailed in her claim,” Cloutier said. Cloutier added that he was unsure whether Wilson’s insurance would cover the full amount of the judgment.

The suit stated that Wilson was in possession of records from a number of Belfast-area doctors that “would have demonstrated conclusively that [she] was entitled to workers’ compensation benefits.”

Dr. Robert David Weiss testified that Knight suffered from acute exacerbation of a pre-existing pulmonary condition and a new injury of gastroesophageal reflux disease. She was injured while employed by Cappy’s Chowder House, which was providing cafeteria services for credit card provider MBNA.

Knight’s injury occurred when she was enveloped in a “gaseous cloud” of a chemical cleaning compound used to scrub a hot grill. Knight, then 33, complained repeatedly to her employer about the difficulty she was having breathing the gas, but was told to continue cleaning the grill, according to her suit. Her problem became so acute that she eventually was hospitalized and instructed by her physicians to no longer clean the grill.

Cloutier said Knight continues to suffer from her illness and will require periodic hospitalizations for the rest of her life.

“This judgment may even be a low figure,” he said. “Theresa’s medical costs are exorbitant. It’s a lifelong situation and she is not going to recover as a result of this injury.”