Documentary Tells Story of Injured Worker’s Struggle with State Fund

Production recently finished on a documentary detailing an injured worker’s personal struggle with California’s workers’ compensation system.

Writer/producer of the documentary Almost Broken, Christine Pietz, said that the idea for the documentary came about when searching the Internet. An injured worker herself, she said that she was feeling frustrated with attorneys and looked online to find information on other injured workers’ experiences.

She discovered the story of Larry Nign, a plastics fabricator at a company called Racecraft. In 1989, after 20 years of industrial work, Nign suffered serious lung damage that reportedly was a result of breathing vapors of heated plastic and inhaling plastic dust. Pietz said that Nign, insured by State Compensation Insurance Fund (SCIF), received benefits for his injury.

“He looked to the system to take care of him, and they did for a couple of years. After that, State Fund told him he didn’t have a work-related injury and they dropped him,” Pietz said.

Pietz said that Nign brought his case before the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board, but lost when the judge ruled that Nign’s health problems were not the result of a work injury. Pietz said that Nign contacted the attorney general, insurance commissioner and governor to intervene, but to no avail.

Pietz said that during the appeal, State Fund lawyers released fraudulent documents to the appellate court. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office reportedly charged State Fund attorneys with insurance fraud but the District Attorney later dropped the case after two years of investigation.

“We’re trying to say if there is an insurance company that is so large that the largest attorney’s office in the state is afraid to prosecute or can’t prosecute them, maybe there’s a problem,” she said.

Pietz said that the film mostly tells the previously untold story of just one injured worker. She contacted a friend named Malik Stalbert to direct the movie, and production began in early August 2004.

She said that the first draft of the film was recently finished and a second draft is in the works. A short clip is available on the film’s Web site, www.almostbroken.com, and a trailer will be available soon.

Pietz said that about 30 people have seen the documentary so far in preview screenings. She is in negotiations to make the film available in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Sacramento movie theaters. She is also sending the documentary to film festivals.

She said that she sent screening invitations and movie posters to State Fund employees in hopes that they will one day see the film. Pietz said that she would like insurance companies to see an injured workers’ personal experiences, but the movie is primarily for injured workers.

“I did this movie to inform the public and to get Larry’s story out because it needs to be heard,” Pietz said. “I did it for other injured workers so that they would understand that someone else is going through what they have. Larry is only one of thousands.”

State Fund has not yet seen the film and declined to comment.

Topics Workers' Compensation