Samuel H Pond

September 20, 2024 | The Legal Intelligencer

In Elite Care RX v. Premier Comp Solutions, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court was asked to address where a health care provider can pursue a claim against an insurer for unpaid medical bills incurred by injured workers receiving workers' compensation benefits. Must a provider go through the administrative processes of Pennsylvania's Workers' Compensation Act (the act), or could it pursue a civil lawsuit?

By Samuel H. Pond

10 minute read

May 17, 2024 | The Legal Intelligencer

The means used to obstruct the approval of the fee are not only flawed litigation tactics but arguably rise to the level of tortious interference. While some choose to be willfully blind to the plain language of Section 442 of the Pennsylvania Workers' Compensation Act, as well as its clear interpretation in Neves and Williams, we call on the Pennsylvania Workers' Compensation defense bar to abstain from tortious interference with contractual relationship between injured workers and their attorneys under the pretext of a "greater good."

By ​​Samuel H. Pond and Vladimir Dorash

8 minute read

April 19, 2024 | The Legal Intelligencer

I have written in the past about the failure of punitive damages to have the deterrent effect they were designed to have. Rather than deter intentional harm or egregious behavior, the threat punitive damages pose is seemingly ignored by corporations and employers who put profits before preventing harm, thanks in part to awards frequently being reduced on appeal.

By ​​Samuel H. Pond

9 minute read

January 12, 2023 | The Legal Intelligencer

Today, much of what is happening in the workers' compensation system is based on custom, not the law or even best practices. Injured workers are suffering because of it.

By Samuel H. Pond

8 minute read

November 23, 2022 | The Legal Intelligencer

While defendants are still let off the hook by courts for dilatory—and worse—tactics far more often than they should be, two recent cases my firm was involved in suggest that some Pennsylvania Workers' Compensation Judges (WCJs) are finally saying "enough is enough," particularly with employers' and insurers' unreasonable contests of workers' compensation claims.

By ​​Samuel H. Pond

9 minute read

July 14, 2022 | The Legal Intelligencer

Punitive damages and other penalties in the legal system need to be wielded with a frequency and severity that make them the deterrent they were intended to be.

By Samuel H. Pond

9 minute read

May 19, 2022 | The Legal Intelligencer

We all have the joy and burden of the professional human experience. But that experience provides us lessons we can incorporate into our mindset and into our perspective so that we can continue to grow as human beings.

By Samuel H. Pond

11 minute read

October 05, 2021 | The Legal Intelligencer

In the Pennsylvania workers' compensation system, judges rarely allow claimants' attorneys to take the depositions of claims adjusters. In my experience and that of my colleagues, approximately 90% of requests for depositions of adjusters are denied.

By Samuel H. Pond, Andrew F. Ruder and Keld R. Wenge

9 minute read

September 02, 2021 | The Legal Intelligencer

We attorneys rarely see the interests of injured people align squarely with those of medical providers. Be it the fundamental nature of medical malpractice claims, attorney advertising seeking clients with such claims, or the prevalence of medical liens, the interests of injured people and medical providers in the legal arena are frequently unaligned—if not diametrically opposed.

By Samuel H. Pond

10 minute read

November 27, 2019 | The Legal Intelligencer

Too often in the Pennsylvania workers' compensation system, injured workers are denied access to full discovery and the fundamental right of cross examination of a party opponent.

By Samuel H. Pond

8 minute read