After more than 30 years with the same company, our client knew what hard work felt like.
He worked on commercial refrigeration systems — grocery store coolers, hospital systems, rooftop units, heavy compressors, large fans, emergency calls, and long hours. Some weeks, he worked 80 or 90 hours. He climbed, lifted, repaired, hauled, and showed up whenever the job needed him.
He was not looking for a way out. His history proved the opposite. He had dealt with knee problems, hand problems, and neck treatment over the years. He got treated and went right back to work. Every time.
Then he fell at work and hurt his shoulder.
The insurance company tried to make the case about his age and the changes in his body. Craig Injury Law made the case about what actually changed after the fall.
He Was Working Full Duty Before the Accident
Before the fall, our client was performing full-duty commercial refrigeration work across Southeast Georgia. He was not under shoulder restrictions. He was not waiting for surgery. He was not telling his employer that he could not handle the lifting on ordinary service calls.
He was working the way he had worked for three decades.
That is a critical point in Georgia workers' compensation cases involving older employees. A worker can have arthritis, wear and tear, or old findings on an X-ray and still be fully capable of doing the job. The question in a Georgia workers' comp claim is never whether the worker's body was perfect before the accident.
The question is what the accident did.
The Fall Took Away the Shoulder He Had Been Working With
The accident happened while he was running a communication wire above a cooler. He fell headfirst, tried to catch himself with his right arm, and struck his shoulder on the top of the cooler.
After that, the pain did not go away.
Workers' compensation sent him to a doctor who ordered therapy, medication, imaging, an injection, and more therapy. Our client tried everything. He kept working while he treated. He did not exaggerate. He did not stop showing up.
But the treatment did not fix the problem.
Eventually, the first workers' compensation doctor declared the shoulder condition chronic, released him with no restrictions, and gave him a zero percent impairment rating. In plain English, this is not really from the fall, and workers' comp does not have to pay for more.
Our client was still hurting.
He was having trouble sleeping. He was struggling to use the shoulder overhead. The heavy work he used to handle alone became difficult enough that the company brought in additional help. A coworker confirmed what the records showed — before the fall, he was a hard worker, and after it, he continued having serious shoulder problems.
That before-and-after picture became the center of the case.
"Preexisting" Is Not the End of the Story in Georgia
The insurance company's defense was familiar to anyone who handles Georgia workers' compensation claims: the shoulder problem was preexisting.
They leaned on older medical history and defense doctors who focused on signs of age and long-term wear. They wanted the judge to stop there.
Georgia workers' compensation law does not stop there.
A work accident in Vidalia, Savannah, Marietta, or anywhere in Southeast Georgia does not have to create a brand-new injury in a perfect body. If a fall aggravates an older condition, activates a problem that was not previously disabling, or turns a working shoulder into a shoulder that requires surgery, that can still be a covered workers' compensation injury under Georgia law.
So we focused on the real-life evidence:
- Before the fall, he was working full duty without shoulder restrictions.
- Before the fall, he had no meaningful right shoulder treatment, keeping him from the job.
- Before the fall, he was not reporting that shoulder pain was interrupting his sleep or his work.
- After the fall, he had constant pain, failed therapy, failed injections, difficulty sleeping, trouble lifting, and a surgical recommendation.
Even the doctor hired by the insurance company made a critical admission: our client had not been complaining about shoulder pain before the accident. That single admission undermined the foundation of the "preexisting" defense and helped show why that label did not answer the real question in this case.
We Kept the Focus on the Whole Man, Not One Word in a Medical Report
Insurance companies like clean labels. "Preexisting" is one of their favorites because it sounds final. It makes an injured worker in Savannah, Vidalia, or Marietta feel like the case is already lost before it begins.
But people are not medical labels.
Our client was a 65-year-old man who had spent more than 30 years doing heavy commercial work for the same employer across Southeast Georgia. Of course, his body showed wear. Most people who work that hard for that long have similar findings on an X-ray. But he was still doing the job — full duty, every day — before the fall.
That is why we built the case around his actual life and his actual work history.
We showed the judge exactly what his job required. We showed that he had worked through prior medical issues for decades without filing unnecessary workers' compensation claims. We showed that he reported the fall immediately, was treated by the doctors, workers' comp sent him to, and continued working even as his shoulder kept getting worse.
We also worked to get the right medical opinion into the record. The authorized treating surgeon reviewed the complete history and agreed that the work injury caused or significantly aggravated the shoulder condition, and the surgery was both medically necessary and the best path to recovery.
That gave the judge the complete picture, not just the version the insurance company wanted to tell.
The Surgery Was Authorized
The insurance company fought the surgery because the fall was not the real cause of the shoulder condition.
We fought back with the facts, the medical records, the testimony, coworker support, and Georgia law on the aggravation of preexisting conditions.
The shoulder surgery was authorized.
For our client, that means receiving the treatment his surgeon recommended rather than being left in pain with a denial based on his age and old medical records.
For injured workers across Southeast Georgia, it means something equally important: do not assume the word "preexisting" ends your case. In Georgia, it often does not.
What This Means for Injured Workers in Vidalia, Marietta, Savannah, and Southeast Georgia
Workers' compensation insurance companies throughout Georgia have a consistent playbook when it comes to older workers — focus on age, lean on prior medical history, and use the word "preexisting" as often as possible.
At Craig Injury Law, we have seen this approach in Toombs County, in Savannah, in Marietta, and in communities throughout Southeast Georgia. And we know how to respond to it.
If workers' comp is telling you your injury does not count because of your age or your medical history, ask yourself:
- Were you working full duty before the accident?
- Did you have shoulder, back, or other restrictions keeping you from your job before the injury?
- Did your symptoms, limitations, or need for treatment change significantly after the accident?
- Is the insurance company using one word — "preexisting" — to avoid paying for care your doctor says you need?
Georgia workers' compensation law protects workers whose pre-existing conditions are aggravated, accelerated, or exacerbated by a work accident. The question is not whether your body was perfect. The question is what the accident did to the body you had been working with.
Craig Injury Law Fights for Injured Workers, Others Overlook
Many of our clients come to us after they have already heard "no." The insurance company denied the treatment. A doctor blamed age or arthritis. The worker was made to feel that years of hard labor were somehow being used against them.
We do not accept that at face value. Your age is not your case. Let us show you what the accident actually did.
At Craig Injury Law, we look at what your job required, what your body could do before the accident, what changed afterward, and whether the insurance company is telling the whole story. If a work injury made your condition worse — even if that condition existed before — you may still have a valid Georgia workers' compensation claim.
We serve injured workers throughout Southeast Georgia, including Vidalia, Savannah, Marietta, Toombs County, and surrounding communities. We handle workers' compensation cases on a contingency basis — you pay no attorney fees unless we recover compensation for you.
Contact Craig Injury Law online or call us at (912) 304-5202 today for a free, confidential consultation.