First Responders Accuse Sedwick of Dragging Its Feet on Claims
- Fort Worth police officer Bobbie Sanchez says she’s still fighting for adequate medical care more than two years after a July 2024 altercation in which a suspect elbowed her in the face, dislocating her jaw and permanently damaging both temporomandibular joints, highlighting ongoing struggles by first responders to get treatment for workplace injuries.
- City Council Member Charles Lauersdorf has publicly criticized the city’s third-party administrator, Sedgwick, saying he had heard from multiple police officers and firefighters struggling to get injury treatment approved.
- In Sanchez’s case, because Fort Worth’s network of approved providers had no oral surgeon, she had to find one on her own and pay out of pocket, waiting 10 months for jaw treatment and requiring multiple escalations before being reimbursed. Separate neck and shoulder injuries initially dismissed as simple strains were later found through MRI and nerve testing to involve bulging discs and three pinched nerves causing periodic arm numbness. Meanwhile steroid injection treatment are still pending approval from Sedgwick, the city’s third-party claims administrator.
- Star-Telegram records show police and firefighters were far more likely than other city employees to have claims denied. A Sedgwick spokesperson said the company has an escalation process and licensed review physicians who work with injured workers’ doctors on modifying denied treatment requests, though Sanchez said that process hasn’t worked for her.
- The city’s five-year contract with Sedgwick, signed in 2020, is set to end its first renewal term Nov. 19, with Fort Worth planning to solicit new proposals this fall for a contract beginning in fiscal year 2027.
Court Affirms Carpenter’s Summary Judgment Win Over Tarp Tripping Hazard
- New York’s Appellate Division, First Department affirmed summary judgment for a carpenter on his Labor Law claim after he tripped on a torn, crumpled tarp covering carpet in a corridor while pushing an A-frame cart delivering glass windows during an office renovation in New York City.
- The court found photographic evidence and deposition testimony established the tarp was an inadequately secured tripping hazard in a passageway, with general contractor Gannon Contracting’s own foreman conceding the tarp — which Gannon had placed to protect new carpeting — constituted a tripping hazard as depicted in photos taken minutes after the accident.
- The court rejected arguments that the tarp was “integral to the work” or that its hazard was inherent to the task, noting defendants could have used other safe measures to protect the carpet without obstructing the carpenter’s path.
- The court also dismissed the argument that the carpenter was the sole proximate cause of his own accident for choosing the tarped-carpet route over an alternate path with Masonite flooring, finding no evidence he had been specifically instructed not to take that route while transporting the glass panels.