Judge Improperly Calculated PD Award, Appeals Court Rules

A New Jersey appellate court ruled that a judge should have considered the combined effect of two separate and permanent injuries when calculating disability, rather than the disability rating for each injury individually.The Appellate Division of the New Jersey Superior Court reversed and remanded a ruling granting the claimant, Dawn Grasso,  $68,726 in permanent disability awards for her arm and her hand injuries, in Grasso v. State, Dep't of the Judiciary, No. A-6000-05T2, 3/19/08. The judge had based the award on "both 40% of the total loss of an arm (330 weeks), (citation), which...