PELLETS, NOT CRASH=KNEE PAIN

An investigation by Texas Mutual Insurance Co. revealed a man employed to pick up roadside trash has trouble with his knee because of the shotgun pellets embedded in it, not because of an accident in which a woman’s car rear-ended a trash trailer on the side of the road in Houston. After the crash, Ronald J. Dawson, who had been employed with On Our Own Services Inc. to pick up roadside trash bags, claimed that the trailer had knocked him some 20 feet away when it was rear-ended. He filed for workers’ compensation benefits for an alleged injured knee, and Texas Mutual began paying on the claim. Eight months later, On Our Own Services owner Shawn Quigley complained to Texas Mutual that Dawson was trying to “drag out the claim” to get more money from a pending third-party lawsuit. Eileen Cook, a Texas Mutual fraud investigator, found that photos taken at the scene of the accident showed that the car pushed the trailer straight into the back of the van that was towing it, not to the side. Therefore, the trailer could not have struck Dawson as he had claimed. Cook continued her investigation and obtained a statement from Dawson’s co-worker, the driver of the van, claiming that the trailer did not touch Dawson. According to the co-worker, Dawson walked to a grassy area, smoked a cigarette, and laid down to wait for the ambulance. When the ambulance arrived, Dawson told the co-worker that the next time they met, he would be driving a Cadillac. Dawson later sued the woman for the alleged injury to his knee. Cook discovered that Dawson’s knee injury was inconsistent with damage resulting from a collision. In fact, the medical x-rays showed Dawson’s knee to be full of shotgun pellets. Further investigation revealed that Dawson, a two-time convicted felon, had received regular treatment for the shotgun pellets in his knee during his first prison sentence.

Topics Texas