Practice Areas and Legal Definitions 

Workers' Compensation:
Workers' compensation is insurance that an employer is required by law to carry in case an employee is injured on the job or becomes ill, temporarily or permanently disabled or fatally injured due to circumstances surrounding his or her job.

Although workers' compensation laws vary from state to state, covered medical care generally includes: medical, surgical and hospital services, dental services, crutches, hearing aids, chiropractic treatment, physical therapy, nursing care and prescribed medications. Additional monetary compensation may be provided if an injured employee is temporarily unable to work for more than a certain number of calendar days set by state law, hospitalized as an in-patient, or becomes permanently disabled due to a job-related injury or illness. The right to receive medical treatment at the employer's expense typically continues as long as treatment is reasonable and necessary to treat the injury.

Orthopedic Injuries:
Orthopedic injuries can include injuries involving the spine, bones, joints, muscles, nerves and other parts of the skeletal system. The most common orthopedic injuries are bone fractures and sprains and strains. Sprains describe an injury to a ligament and strains describe an injury to muscle. Treatment for orthopedic injuries include medical counseling, medications, casts, splints and therapies, such as exercise or surgery.

Repetitive Stress Injury:
If an individual develops a repetitive stress injury (i.e., carpal tunnel syndrome, tendonitis, tennis elbow, etc.) from duties performed while on the job, he or she may receive workers' compensation benefits including their choice of doctor(s), full medical care compensation, lost wage benefits, a lump-sum cash settlement, vocational retraining or re-schooling and permanent wage loss benefits.

Construction/Industrial Accidents:
Construction labor makes up one of the three most dangerous occupations in the United States today; each year producing thousands of debilitating injuries and wrongful deaths. Factors that contribute to construction accidents include workers lifting loads with worn and weathered cables, working on elevated platforms without fall protection or wearing defective safety harnesses and lanyards, and/or working in trenches with improper benching and using outdated tools and equipment.

Construction site personal injury law is not practiced nor understood by many personal injury attorneys. As a result, many personal injury construction claims are often subject to mediocre representation and minimal financial compensation due to improper legal counsel.  Injured construction workers are urged to seek a workers' compensation attorney who is knowledgeable in a variety of construction techniques and has successfully litigated numerous construction site personal injury cases.

Burn Injuries:
People who have suffered and survived the agony of second, third and even fourth degree burns describe the pain they experienced as among the most severe of all traumatic injuries. Personal injuries involving severe burns commonly result from explosions, premises fires, defective products, motor vehicle collisions or electric shock, as well as accidental exposure to harmful chemicals and radiation.

Toxic Exposure:
Due to the tremendous growth of corporate industry in the United States over the past fifty years, the number of dangerous, toxic substances in the environment has grown significantly. Some toxic substances are shown to cause substantial injury to people, such as lead-based paint (linked to brain damage, especially in children), asbestos (linked to lung cancer and restrictive lung disease), dry cleaning and other solvents (linked to brain damage and major organ damage), pesticides such as dioxin and DDT (linked to birth injuries) and toxic landfill waste (linked to leukemia).

Retaliatory Discharge:
If an individual is terminated from their place of employment after reporting a workers' compensation claim, he or she could be entitled to substantial damages in a retaliatory discharge lawsuit against their former employer.

Federal laws prohibit an employer from discharging or discriminating against an employee because of a workers' compensation injury.  If an employer fires or forces the resignation of an injured employee in retaliation for filing a workers' compensation claim, the employee can file a civil lawsuit against the employer seeking damages in court, provided the employee has evidence of such an allegation. Also, if an employer denies permission for immediate medical attention following a work-related injury, or does not permit an employee to seek out the services of other medical professionals in conjunction with assigned company doctors, the employee can seek legal retribution under workers' compensation laws.

Social Security Disability (SSD):
Social Security provides disability insurance benefits to those who have worked and paid Social Security taxes and have become disabled. In order to receive benefits, the claimant must establish 1) that the disabling condition makes it impossible to perform any substantial work, and 2) that the disability is expected to last at least a year or until death.

Supplemental Security Income (SSI):
Social Security provides SSI benefits for those who are severely disabled but not eligible to receive Social Security disability insurance benefits. This is usually because the claimant did not work long enough in Social Security covered employment to establish eligibility. SSI differs substantially from Social Security disability. The benefits are lower, there is no provision for dependent or survivors benefits, and the disabled person cannot own substantial assets or have substantial income from any source.

Cessation:
Cessation involves the involuntary termination of Social Security disability or SSI benefits. This is usually based on a determination that the disabling condition does not exist or no longer exists and/or, in the case of SSI, that the disabled person’s income and/or assets are too substantial to warrant benefits.

If you or someone you know in Ohio needs experienced personal injury or Workers' Compensation representation, call Cleveland Accident Lawyer Scott Stewart today at 866-284-9380, or complete the contact form provided on this site to schedule your free consultation.

If you or someone you know in Ohio needs experienced personal injury or Workers' Compensation representation, call Cleveland Accident Lawyer Scott Stewart today at 866-284-9380, or complete the contact form provided on this site to schedule your free consultation.

ADDRESS OF THE FIRM:
Stewart & DeChant Co., LPA
1370 Ontario St.
Cleveland, OH 44113-1701
Telephone: 866-284-9380
Fax: 216-781-8210

MEMBERS OF THE FIRM:

Scott E. Stewart
Scott graduated from Bethany College with a Bachelor of Arts with senior high honors in 1973 and from the Case Western Reserve School of Law with his Juris Doctorate in 1976. He was admitted to the Ohio Bar the same year. He is admitted to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio.

After graduation from law school, Scott attended the Court Practice Institute in Chicago, Illinois as well as the initial and advanced programs at The National Institute for Trial Advocacy. He gained valuable insight and experience in the development of his trial skills at these national programs.

Scott was honored by gaining membership as a Civil Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in May of 1993. He was recertified in 1998.

Scott is a member and past president of the Cleveland Academy of Trial Attorneys as well as a member of the Ohio Academy of Trial Lawyers and the Association of Trial Lawyers of America. He is a member of the American Bar Association and the Ohio State Bar Association where he is currently a district representative. As a member of the Cleveland Bar Association, Scott is the past chairman of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee and was a former director on the Young Lawyers’ Section. Currently, he is a past chairman of the Common Pleas Committee of the Litigation Section.

He is a Diplomate in the American Board of Professional Liability Attorneys and a member of the American Judicature Society, the National Organization of Social Security Claimant’s Representatives, the Ohio State Bar Foundation and one of fewer than a hundred and thirty associates of the American Board of Trial Advocates.

In addition to lecturing to other practicing lawyers in Ohio, Scott has published on the topics of intentional tort law and experts.