Attorneys Eric Hayes and Fritz Hauschild defeat complicated contribution claim

Attorneys Eric Hayes and Fritz Hauschild were able to successfully defeat a contribution claim initiated by a co-defendant and supported by the employee.  In support of the alleged contribution claim, both the employee and the co-defendant obtained separate orthopedic opinions buttressing the theory that the employee’s current knee condition actually related back to the original knee injury, and not to the more recent injury being defended by the co-defendant.  However, the court disregarded those opinions as unpersuasive, relying in part on the testimony of the employee on cross-examination that he had no pain for approximately 10 years after the original injury.  The result eliminated any current or ongoing exposure for Eric and Fritz’s client, and assigned 100% of the liability for the employee’s current knee condition to the more recent alleged injury being defended by the co-defendant.