Allagash crash survivor’s claim stalls

BANGOR – A mediation meeting before a representative of the state’s Workers’ Compensation Board on Wednesday failed to yield a decision on whether the lone survivor of the fatal van accident in the Allagash Wilderness Waterway should receive any money on his claim.

On Sept. 12, Edilberto Morales-Luis of Guatemala was one of 15 people in a van that plunged off a logging road bridge and into the Allagash River. Morales-Luis escaped from the van through a back window. His employer, Evergreen Forestry Services, took him to a hospital; he was evaluated and released.

Days after the accident, the state, in an unusual move, filed workers’ compensation claims on behalf of the survivor and the families of the 14 foreign workers who died, with Evergreen’s insurance company, Liberty Mutual. The insurer has agreed to pay “lost-time” benefits of up to $300 a week for 500 weeks to the families, but it wants medical proof that Morales-Luis suffered physical or emotional injuries.

On Wednesday, attorney John Sedgewick of Lewiston, who represents Morales-Luis, and attorney Tom Getchell of Portland, on behalf of Liberty Mutual, failed to reach an agreement on whether the survivor should be paid workers’ compensation benefits. According to Sedgewick, Morales-Luis would receive about $250 a week for an unspecified period of time.

“The bottom line is so far nobody has agreed to anything at all,” he said.

In a statement, Liberty Mutual spokesman John Cusolito said, “With respect to the survivor of this tragedy, we have yet to receive any information regarding a disabling injury that would qualify him to receive benefits under Maine’s workers’ compensation law. We had hoped the mediation session would have shed more light on his condition because we are prepared to respond.”

Two weeks ago, Morales-Luis told a free-lance reporter hired by the Bangor Daily News to interview him back home in Guatemala that he suffers from headaches and a sore shoulder that has limited his mobility and that he experiences nightmares about the accident. His attorney said it is difficult for his client to see a doctor in Guatemala because the country has few available.

Sedgewick said it’s likely that Morales-Luis’ claim will be deliberated at a Workers’ Compensation Board hearing. At some point, though, Morales-Luis will need to be evaluated by a doctor, and then Liberty Mutual or the board could ask for a second opinion.

How Morales-Luis will get to a doctor and who will pay for it have not been decided, Sedgewick said.