Buy Briggs and Stratton engines and support the crippling of americans!

[dgainsjr]

My story of basic human rights violations and the laws of the state of Georgia that protects them. -by Dale Gains

This story (unfortunately its true) is what happened to me. I still don't understand how this could happen in the U.S.A. in the 21st century. Please let me preface this letter with a thought. EVERYTHING in this statement is TRUE, it is a recount of what happened to me while employed by Briggs and Stratton's engine plant located in Statesboro, Georgia. I have been "reminded" of slander laws, jail-time and the like, but in my mind these violations need to be made public. If I end up in prison for telling the truth, I will just think of all the good men that died for the truth. Also please keep in mind that I am not anti-American; in fact a am a veteran of the Persian gulf war and would gladly still die for this country and its ideals of liberty and justice. Though this gives me pause about Tiananmen square and China, I do not think we are there, and I only want us to travel farther away from that mind set.

In Nov. 2003 while employed by Briggs and Stratton in Statesboro GA, during the maintenance on my equipment, I cracked a rib. The company sent me to their Dr. who put me on narcotics and called the plant nurse to ensure that I would only be allowed an clerical job in the office while I healed. Even though the plant nurse at first agreed that I needed an office job, but after the narcotics took effect, I was ordered into a hazardous environment. I believe this was in violations of a long list of laws. My supervisor testified that he approached the nurse a couple times requesting I be removed from the floor for everyone's safety (those pills through me for a loop!), but he was told to "mind his own business and leave the medical to her". Well the plant safety officer was sympathetic but he did nothing either. Well I must have really been screwed up on those pills (my supervisor said I was "three sheets to the wind") because a drum of oil fell on my leg. True these drums are heavy(~600 lbs.) but I did this almost every day! My ankle was broke in a couple places and me knee was screwed up, but my ankle healed and surgery was finally done on my knee, though my knee isn't right but with cortisone injections, I get around ok

It has been about 3 yrs. since my accident. I Thank my God the Veteran's Administration did not turn there back on me. They are giving me my injections and I am trying to get back to work, anyone need a good production set-up man with a bum knee? Anyway, according to the Worker's Compensation Act in the state of Georgia I DO NOT even have the right to a JURY TRIAL. IS THIS WHAT "LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL" means??? I don't know who to ask, Please, can we just have a jury trial?

PLEASE give me my day in court.

[Lawrence]

Typically there would have to be criminal negligece for there to be a jury trial. This has to be proved beyond reasonable doubt which is a high standard. It even sounds as if some share of the negligence may be yours.

You may or may not have a civil claim against the company, the managers, or the doctors. An attorney is who you need to talk to not this newsgroup. If your claim has merit then it is certain you can find a lawyer to represents you.

[deke]

You are full of it. This newgroup has more info potential than any attorney. You don't know what you are talking about.

[dpb]

If you received what you considered inadequate compensation under workmans' compensation, you should have contacted an attorney who specializes in such cases at the time. Given the time that has passed, it may be too late to get much redress, but your first step should be to contact such an attorney immediately.

I believe you can always sue for negligence/malfeasance requesting damages outside of workmans' compensation, but whether you have sufficient grounds to make a potentially winnable case or not is something you and your attorney will have to determine.

[Nelson Muntz]

Yes you do. Sue them for negligence and it will not be a workman's comp. claim, it will be a personal injury claim.

[mm]

You should have put OT as the first 2 characters of the subject, so that automatic filters would have filtered your post out, for readers who want that to happen. Since you didn't, my first impression of you is that you are an intentional off-topic poster, so your credibility drops. Maybe you didn't know that you should use "OT", but some people may not know that they shouldn't have their pants down showing their underpants at a job interview. Such a person would still make a bad first impression.

Your extra strong assertions that your story is true also, ironically, lowers its credibility, especially when it is ppretty easy to believe that the story is true. Did you used to think everything worked perfectly?

You may still have a claim but read further.

This has nothing to do with liberty, and people can come to an agreement on what justice is in a particular situation. I would expect the concept of Workers Compensation Laws has had its constitutionality challenged already in court, and it has been upheld. I used to, for less than a year, work for the federal Workers Compensation office, and I think all 50 states have similar laws.

Certainly in most normal workplace injuries, the procedure works pretty well, and iirc (could be wrong) it was considered a positive accomplishment for workers when such laws were passed.

Your situation could certainly be an exception and if so, an appeal is the answer, possibly followed by a lawsuit. Although one can appeal without a lawyer probably, you should at least consult one first, and it may be a good idea to hire one. You should contact an attorney who specializes in such things. Some of them are not hard to find since some of them advertise on TV. And I believe they don't charge in advance, only if they win, but if a claim is weak, they may either refuse to take the claim or want to be paid by the hour win or loose. I wouldn't want a tv lawyer, but it's a place to start.

Be sure to be clear to the lawyer which accident happened 3 years ago and when the second accident happened. Since you were getting ongoing treatment, no matter how inadqueate it might have been, figuring out the statute of limitiations is much much harder.

BTW, if you want us to buy foreign made stuff, you should look into the workplace medical care in the countries where B&S competitors are. Might be much worse.

Your talking about a criminal prosecution. There are jury trials in civil lawsuits too, for which the burden of proof is much lower, just a preponderance of the evidence.

So what? What is the law in Geogia on contributory negligence versus comparitive negligence? He informed them that he was groggy and they ignored that. What duty did he have beyond informing them?

I agree with you here. Only argued with you because....too long to explain.

ROTFLOL. Especially when none of use have lived in Georgia and we all disagree with each other. LOLHMS, holding my sides.

[deke]

Wrong.

If the employer has WC coverage, the employee is stuck with what the state provides and the negligence suit is not permitted.

[Frank from Deeetroit]

Call an attorney for his/her advice.

[Larry and a Cat named Dub]