Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Pennsylvania

Hamburger causes broken tooth at work

I believe it was this past August 2003 when I was in the employee cafeteria at my place of employment. While chewing my hamburger, I felt and heard a crunching sound as one of my back teeth broke apart by something hard. Part of the food in my mouth at the time was swallowed; however, when searching through the remains I did not find anything that would have caused the injury - only food and part of the broken tooth.

I did have a witness at my table who will back all this up, and my employer knows this. I did file a report with my employer and followed all procedures to file a workman's comp claim. However, a few weeks later, I heard back from them stating that since there was no proof (that is, whatever it was that caused the damage), they would not honor my claim. (The way that they put it, I suppose that I should have also gone through my stools to find something hard that might have caused the injury!)

Fortunately, only about one-quarter of the tooth is gone but no pain at all - just a major inconvenience. I presently do not have the funds to have the tooth repaired or pulled, but I do believe that my employer is still responsible for covering all expenses.

Any assistance in this matter would be appreciated!


Asked on 6/18/04, 4:57 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Richard Teitell Richard K. Teitell, Esquire, P.C.

Re: Hamburger causes broken tooth at work

The question that comes to me is, were you on your employer's business when this happened? If you were on a lunch break, you may not be able to make a WC claim.

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Answered on 6/18/04, 11:06 pm


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