THE INSIDER’S

TOP ATTORNEYS FOR 2012

Michael J. Reynolds, Esq.

February 25, 2013: Congratulations are in order to The Insider’s top attorney for 2012: MICHAEL J. REYNOLDS, Esq. who exemplifies the high quality of legal representation in the workers compensation community in the State of New York.\

While there are over 10,000 administrative law judge decisions appealed yearly in which workers compensation attorneys argue the merits of their respective sides for resolution by a panel of three commissioners, it is at the Appellate Court and Court of Appeals that major issues are argued and cases decided.

The list of attorneys which follows are those who presented the prevailing arguments in the New York State Workers Compensation decisions posted in 2012 by the Appellate Court, Third Department. This list can be used to settle cocktail party arguments and to answer various trivia questions but, in reality, is no way reflective of the quality of the attorneys listed (or not listed) or their arguments. As for those whose arguments did not prevail, they are not listed: many take on cases which they know have a very small likelihood of winning and they certainly should be neither criticized or publicized for that. Attorneys from the Office of the Attorney General and Special Funds Conservation are not included because they are automatically a party to a substantial number of cases. Since the Court affirms the NYS WCB about 70% of the time, regardless of which side they represent, they are automatically on the winning side 70% of the time. This does not take away, however, from  recognition of their skills.¹ And as one winner so clearly added, this list does not give credit to all those on the staffs of all the attorneys listed below without whom they would not have been successful.

As the “Winningest Attorney of 2012“, Michael J. Reynolds, acting of counsel to Weiss, Wexler, & Wornow PC of New York City, represented employers/carriers in prevailing arguments in four cases affirmed by the New York State Appellate Court, Third Department, successfully defending the Board’s decisions in

• Blotko v Solomon Olive The claimant was not an employee of the general contractor, having never been hired by them even though the general contractor hired many of the claimant’s employees.
• Rosario v AIG The claimant voluntarily removed herself from the labor market by not making a realistic attempt to find work.
  
• Sciame v Airborne Express The claimant was not entitled to a schedule loss of use award as he had previously been classified with the maximum award with a permanent partial disability. Last week, the Court of Appeals denied claimant’s motion to appeal.
• Ward v General Utils While the claimant sustained a work-related occupational disease, General Utilities was not employer of record responsible for the claim.

Honorable Mention is given to the following, led by Robert E. Geyer (Wolff, Goodrich & Goldman) whose two wins include a Reversal. The others in this group are, with two affirmances each:

• Jeffrey M. Fox (Walsh and Hacker, Albany )
• Renee E. Heitger (Hamberger & Weiss, Buffalo)
• John B. Paniccia (Stockton, Barker & Mead)
• Sarah A. Thomas (Jones, Jones, New York City )
• Theresa E. Wolinski (Foley, Smit, O’Boyle & Weisman, Hauppauge)
• Nancy E. Wood (Law offices of Nancy Wood, New York City)

Although there were 18 reversals issued by the Third Department in 2012, no one attorney won more than one, with the exception of one attorney who appeared frequently at the Court: Jill B. Singer of the Special Fund who had four reversals among her 13 successful appearances. And as has been the case every year since I have been posting decisions, there is one pro-se claimant who prevailed at the Third Department: Nevin Visic in the Matter of Visic v O’Nero & Sons Constr. Co.

¹The Insider: When I first published this list for the 2009 calendar year, the Board was prevailing in 92% of its cases, as it had done for many years before. Since then, the Board’s winning percentage has dropped to the barely passing grade of 70%. More on the that next week.

The letters following the attorneys’ names indicate Private practice, AG (Attorney General), SIF (State Insurance Fund) and SF (Special Funds). The letters in the third column are Affirm, Reverse, and Deny.