Chartwell Overcomes Presumption Of Work Related Illness

For the sixth time in as many months, Chartwell attorney Cliff Goldstein successfully defended a municipal client against a workers’ compensation claim alleging that a firefighter’s cancer was work related.   In Western Pennsylvania, a career firefighter developed colon cancer, which unfortunately resulted in his death.  Chartwell took over the defense from another firm more than half way through the litigation, and completely defeated the claim for approximately $500,000 in disability benefits and medical reimbursement in the lifetime portion of the case.  Chartwell achieved this result even though a new law, Act 46 of 2011, created a rebuttable presumption that the firefighter’s cancer was work related.