Claim survey alongside a container vessel
HOME / PRACTICE AREAS / WORKERS’ COMPENSATION

Workers’ Compensation

Employer and insurer defense under the workers’ compensation systems of Washington, Alaska, and the federal Longshore Act, including the Defense Base Act. All of it handled from Seattle.

Much of this work reaches us the same way: a carrier on the other side of the country needs someone who knows the Act and will give a straight answer on where a claim stands. That has been this practice for decades.

TALK TO THE PRACTICE Workers’ Compensation

One address that reaches the partners in this practice directly. Employer and carrier side only.

EMAIL THE PRACTICE

New matters begin with a conflicts check. Please hold files until we confirm we can take the matter.
TALK TO THE PRACTICE
Marcin M. Grabowski
Marcin M. Grabowski PARTNER

Leads the workers’ compensation practice. Longshore, Defense Base Act, and Washington State defense for employers and carriers.

EMAIL MARCIN

New matters begin with a conflicts check. Please hold files until we confirm we can take the matter.
PRACTICE AREAS

Three systems, one federal act, and the coverage questions around them.

Each area has its own page with the detail. Every one of them is employer and insurer side only.

01 Alaska State Workers’ Compensation Defense Employers and insurers before the Alaska Workers’ Compensation Board, with depth in seafood, transportation, and resource industries. LEARN MORE → 02 Longshore Act Defense LHWCA claims from first report through appeal for terminal operators, stevedores, shipyards, and their carriers, coast to coast. LEARN MORE → 03 Washington State Workers’ Compensation Defense Self-insured and state-fund employers before the Department of Labor & Industries and the Board of Industrial Insurance Appeals. LEARN MORE → 04 Regulatory & Insurance Coverage analysis, self-insurance programs, audits, and voluntary compensation plans for employers, insurers, TPAs, and brokers. LEARN MORE → 05 Defense Base Act Claims by civilian contractors injured supporting U.S. operations overseas, defended for national carriers and administrators. LEARN MORE → NOT SURE WHICH APPLIES? Many of our clients have employees under all of them. Start with a conversation. EMAIL THE PRACTICE →
DEFENSE BASE ACT

Workers’ comp for work far from home.

When a civilian contractor is injured supporting U.S. operations overseas, the claim lands under the Defense Base Act, and the carrier holding it needs counsel who has actually tried these cases.

We defend DBA claims for national carriers and administrators, the same way we handle the Longshore docket: directly, and without a committee in between.

CLAIMS FROM Anywhere U.S. contractors work
DEFENDED FROM Seattle, Washington
LONGSHORE ACT

The core of the practice since the beginning.

Terminal operators, stevedores, shipyards, and their carriers have relied on this group for LHWCA defense for decades, on a docket that runs from Puget Sound to the Gulf and the East Coast.

The same attorney stays with the file from first report of injury through the Benefits Review Board.

BEFORE Office of Administrative Law Judges
ON APPEAL Benefits Review Board and the Ninth Circuit
WASHINGTON STATE

Beyond the docks, across the state.

Self-insured and state-fund employers in aviation, food processing, professional sports, and manufacturing bring us their Washington claims for the same reason the maritime clients do: a direct answer, and a defensible plan.

Protests, appeals, and hearings before the Board of Industrial Insurance Appeals are handled by the same team.

BEFORE Department of Labor & Industries
ON APPEAL Board of Industrial Insurance Appeals
← →
Crew comparing notes under the container cranes EVERY CLAIM STARTS ON THE GROUND
HOW A CLAIM MOVES

From first report to final order.

01 First report

Early investigation, an honest read on exposure, and a plan, usually within days of the file arriving.
02 Defense & resolution

Discovery, medical development, and settlement where it makes sense, contested where it doesn’t.
03 Hearing & appeal

Trial before the Office of Administrative Law Judges, and appeals to the Benefits Review Board and beyond.
PARTNERS IN THIS PRACTICE

The partners who handle it.

ALL ATTORNEYS →
Marcin M. Grabowski Marcin M. Grabowski PARTNER

Leads the workers’ compensation practice. Longshore, Defense Base Act, and Washington State defense for employers and carriers.

mmgrabowski@bmjlaw.com 206.905.3248 FULL BIO →
Mark A. Krisher Mark A. Krisher PARTNER

Longshore and Washington State claims for self-insured employers, terminal operators, and their carriers.

makrisher@bmjlaw.com 206.905.3224 FULL BIO →
Craig K. Connors Craig K. Connors PARTNER

Alaska and Washington workers’ compensation defense, with a focus on seafood and transportation employers.

craigkconnors@bmjlaw.com 206.905.3225 FULL BIO →
Marcin M. Grabowski
Marcin M. GrabowskiPARTNER

Leads the workers’ compensation practice. Longshore, Defense Base Act, and Washington State defense for employers and carriers.

Mark A. Krisher
Mark A. KrisherPARTNER

Longshore and Washington State claims for self-insured employers, terminal operators, and their carriers.

Craig K. Connors
Craig K. ConnorsPARTNER

Alaska and Washington workers’ compensation defense, with a focus on seafood and transportation employers.

Draft partner assignments and blurbs, pending confirmation from the partners.

GET IN TOUCH

Representing an employer or carrier?

Tell us about the claim in general terms. Once conflicts are cleared, a partner in the group will set up a call.

We do not represent injured workers or claimants.