Faced with a client with numerous worker-related injuries over several years, plaintiffs attorney Alexander Sarris had some research and strategizing to do.

Sarris, an associate with Hartford-based Cicchiello & Cicchiello, secured a $250,000 workers' compensation settlement for client Timothy Johnson on Jan. 30, but not before he highlighted Johnson's most serious injuries upfront.

Instead of a litany of hurt, the attorney made it clear which injuries had caused his client the most suffering.

The 62-year-old Johnson, who had worked for Daniels Oil Company Inc. from 2004 to 2016 as a service technician, had numerous injuries on the job, from incidents in 2012, 2013 and 2016. They ranged from serious injury to his right shoulder, lumbar spine and back, and lesser ones to the left shoulder and arm.

Johnson had hurt his lower back while replacing a tank in 2012. He'd then slipped on a wet hatchway door, injuring his left knee the following year. And his right leg went through a hole in the floor while he was walking across an attic in a home in 2016.

"The most challenging part of this case was going through the medical records," Sarris said Tuesday. "The less severe injuries needed to be highlighted too, but they have lesser value. It's better to highlight the most severe injuries, and what they are likely to entail in the future."

Representing the defendant company was Nicholas Varunes of Hartford-based Varunes & Associates.

Varunes did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday. But Sarris said the defense's first offer was for $225,000, compared to the plaintiff's initial demand for $550,000. The parties ended up agreeing on $250,000 that insurance carrier Federated Mutual Insurance Co. is set to pay in one lump sum.

"That's the absolute maximum they would pay," Sarris said. "They did a cost-benefit analysis and came up with the $250,000 figure."

Sarris said Johnson had multiple surgeries to his right shoulder and right knee, and had numerous injections in his back.

"He has limitations lifting, bending and carrying things that are heavy," the attorney said.

Due in part to his age and injuries, Johnson retired in 2016.

Sarris said, "It was unlikely that he'd ever return to work in any meaningful capacity."

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