The Protz Impact

Ever since the Pennsylvania Supreme Court declared in Protz v. WCAB that the Impairment Rating Evaluation provisions of the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act are unconstitutional, my office has been deluged with calls asking how the decision impacts injured workers and how other lawyers should handle their existing cases. These calls have come because we regularly represent injured workers in workers’ compensation claims, because we regularly write briefs and handle appeals for other lawyers in workers’ compensation and other matters, and because we authored the Amicus Curiae (friend of the court) brief for the Pennsylvania Association for Justice (PAJ). Because the Supreme Court did not state how the decision applies to current claims, we are left to predict the results of future cases.

The PAJ will be sponsoring a webinar, “Forward to the Past: Protz and the Elimination of the IRE,” on Wednesday, August 9, 2017 from 12 to 1 p.m. I will be join Tom Baumann, counsel for Mr. Protz, and Larry Chaban, one of the deans of the claimant’s workers’ compensation bar, on the panel. Click here to register for the program.

And finally, thank you to one attorney who read my brief and offered the following observation:

A note to compliment you on your outstanding, world class writing style with your Protz Amicus Brief.

I enjoyed my 20 years of Claimant practice in Blair County, handling over 1000 cases and reading dozens of briefs (and case decisions) over the years. In reviewing your recent brief which lead to a landmark Pa Supreme Court decision - Wow... articulate, well reasoned, well organized, persuasive...it's the Super Bowl of them all!

Me? ... [I] still peruse the workers comp literature when I noticed your written gem.