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Doyle Dennis Avery LLP has filed a workers comp bad faith lawsuit in the United States Federal Court in the District of Arizona on behalf of a worker whose claims were wrongfully denied by her workers compensation insurance company. Accident Fund General Insurance Company and CompWest Insurance Company are the defendants.

The plaintiff was employed as a security guard for Arizona Cardinals home games. After a September game, she left the stadium mid-afternoon. She began suffering dizziness and a severe headache. At the hospital, she could not recognize family members and began acting erratically. Testing revealed she was suffering from toxic metabolic encephalopathy, hyponatremia and hypokalemia; severe dehydration resulting from her job duties as parking lot security. She was in a coma for two days and awoke with noticeable cognitive changes. She suffers from disorientation, memory loss, and difficulty doing physical activity.

The plaintiff submitted a claim through the proper channels and was assigned an adjuster. The adjuster denied her claim after an inadequate investigation and without any reasonable basis for the denial. The plaintiff initiated preliminary proceedings before the Industrial Commission of Arizona. After the initial proceeding, Accident Fund General Insurance Company and CompWest Insurance Company belatedly accepted the claim nine months after it was initially submitted.

The delay in accepting the plaintiff’s claim created financial strain and emotional stress in addition to the permanent damage she has sustained due to the incident.  Her claim was denied based on the creation of pretextual reasons to deny and/or delay payment in an “outcome-driven” approach to claims. Both companies failed to ensure that the industry’s best practices were applied consistently with regard to the plaintiff’s claim. Further, they denied the existence and/or extent of injury without the input of competent medical professionals.

Doyle stands behind this client in her fight against two insurance companies who held profits and their bottom line in higher regard than the health of a patient injured while performing assigned job duties. If you or someone you love has been injured while performing job duties and had their Arizona workers comp claim wrongfully denied, please contact the attorneys at Doyle.