Criminal Workers’ Comp Charge Dismissed for Murrieta Officer

ROBERT L. BAUMANN
Associate Attorney
Adams, Ferrone & Ferrone, APC

Officer John Nelson, a 15-year veteran of the Murrieta Police Department and 22-year public safety veteran, was formally charged with a felony for allegedly making a false statement in order to obtain workers’ compensation benefits. Drawing on an extensive knowledge of workers’ compensation law, the attorneys at Adams, Ferrone & Ferrone (AFF) successfully argued that the felony charge was based on prosecutors’ fundamental misunderstanding of the workers’ compensation system. As a result, the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office (DA) ultimately conceded that the fraud allegation lacked any evidentiary support and voluntarily dismissed the felony charge. In the end, AFF’s unique combination of legal expertise in workers’ compensation and administrative/criminal defense proved invaluable.

The allegations against Nelson derived from a workers’ compensation injury he had suffered back in 2014. On August 23, 2014, Nelson had a minor injury while off duty at home. Although Nelson felt pain from the home injury, he was able to go to the gym the next day and work out the injured body part with mild discomfort. On his first day back to work on August 25, Nelson was involved in what witnesses described as a “violent intense altercation” with a fleeing suspect. During this altercation, Nelson administered several baton strikes without compliance, which eventually led to a carotid restraint control hold in order to subdue the suspect. After the incident, Nelson felt significant pain to the same body part he had injured on August 23. The injury caused Nelson to have difficulty using his arm, unlike the original injury at home that caused mild discomfort. Due to the severity of the pain, Nelson went to his private doctor on August 27 to seek treatment. At his appointment, his doctor conducted an X-ray with negative results and subsequently ordered an MRI. Nelson informed his doctor of the off-duty incident but did not mention the work incident, since he believed his doctor would only address the non-work-related injury as a private physician and not a City doctor. Nelson returned to work on August 28, by which time his symptoms had worsened and led him to advise his supervisor, who recommended Nelson file a workers’ compensation claim, which Nelson subsequently made.

Since the City of Murrieta allows an injured worker to seek treatment for work-related injuries with their private doctor, Nelson returned to his doctor for treatment of his on-duty injury on September 5. At that appointment, Nelson advised his doctor of the August 25 altercation and injury on duty. At this appointment, the doctor had also obtained the results of the previously ordered MRI. The MRI showed a muscle tear, which, based on Nelson’s description of his activities on August 23 and August 25, the doctor opined was a result of the August 25 incident and not the August 23 incident. The doctor proceeded to take Nelson off of work for several months until he could return to full duty, which he ultimately did.

Subsequently, charges were filed against Nelson for workers’ comp fraud. The district attorney contended that Nelson made a false statement to the workers’ compensation adjuster when he advised that he had injured himself at work and never mentioned the home injury. Nelson never mentioned the off-duty injury to the adjuster because he was under the impression he was to discuss the work injury. Since Nelson did not mention the off-duty injury to the adjuster, the DA argued that Nelson was attempting to lie about the off-duty injury. AFF was able to successfully argue that although Nelson did not mention the off-duty injury to the adjuster, the doctor was aware of the off-duty injury and opined that the tear was from the work incident. Therefore, even though the adjuster was not aware of the off-duty injury, the outcome would not have changed the workers’ compensation case, since the doctor was fully aware of both injuries.

Ultimately, AFF was able to argue this point, along with other intricacies of the workers’ compensation system, to persuade the DA that not only was there a lack of intent to lie on behalf of Nelson, but further that the issue and lack of information to the adjuster was due to the doctor’s failure to submit appropriate reports to the adjuster. The DA’s Office eventually realized the issues with its case and agreed to dismiss the charge against Nelson.

Nelson has since returned to full duty, serving his community, and has put this incident behind him. The result obtained would not have been possible had it not been for the dynamic of specialties provided by AFF, along with the support and efforts of the Murrieta Police Officers Association and senior leadership of the Department. Nelson is grateful and appreciative to the Murrieta Police Officers Association, PORAC LDF and Adams, Ferrone & Ferrone, APC, for their aggressive representation and support through this tumultuous process.

About the Author

Robert L. Baumann is an associate attorney with Adams, Ferrone & Ferrone, APC. He specializes in administrative and criminal defense, and represented Nelson in both his administrative and criminal cases.