JACKSON, Miss. (Legal Newsline) – The Mississippi Supreme Court has ruled for a woman whose law firm lied to her about filing a Workers’ Compensation claim on her behalf for more than a year.
The actions of Turner & Associates prevented Lori Chandler from seeking compensation for injuries sustained when her forklift was hit by another, the court ruled on June 16 in a case that originated in Clay County.
A jury there awarded Chandler $150,000 total, including $50,000 in compensatory damages. But the state’s Court of Appeals reversed, finding Chandler failed to prove she would’ve been entitled to $50,000 in Workers’ Comp.
But the Supreme Court disagreed. “Were this a Workers’ Compensation case, we might agree with the Court of Appeals,” the majority opinion says.
“But this is a legal malpractice case. And part of what Chandler lost, due to attorney negligence, was her ability to prove her work-related injury led to her temporary total disability.”
The Court of Appeals had dinged Chandler for not providing evidence she sought medical treatment after May 2008, but the Supreme Court noted she hired Turner & Associates that August and was relying on it to navigate the Workers’ Comp system.
And instead, no one “did any legitimate work on Chandler’s case,” the decision says. Three years after hiring the firm, Chandler reached out and was not notified of this.
A case manager said the firm was negotiating a settlement with Chandler’s former employer and conveyed fabricated offers of $25,000, $30,000 and $100,000.
Chandler agreed to the largest offer and the manager forged a letter from a “Blake Berry” at Cooper Tire. Six months passed, and Chandler’s frustration led her to fax a letter firing the firm. She contacted Cooper Tire directly and found out no claim was ever filed on her behalf.
Also, “Blake Berry” did not exist. The jury’s verdict included $100,000 in punitive damages. The $50,000 in compensatory damages was based on her hourly pay at the time of the accident and the fact she could not work for two years.