PRACTICES
OVERVIEW
Sandra Niemotka has focused her practice on workers' compensation defense in Pennsylvania and New Jersey since 1992.
Sandy is known for aggressively defending Pennsylvania and New Jersey cases in workers' compensation litigation. Since March 2020, she has been extensively involved with defending and educating clients about COVID-19 claims. She has particular experience and knowledge of claims that can be brought in both states, known as “concurrent jurisdiction.” She also has particular knowledge and experience in hearing loss claims, opioid abuse, medical marijuana and in finding offsets against workers’ compensation benefits so that benefits can be reduced. Sandy counsels clients such as insurance companies, media, manufacturers, nursing facilities, warehouses, school districts and restaurants on a regular basis in response to the day-to-day issues that concern workers' compensation.
Sandy has tremendous empathy for employers who are faced with workers’ compensation system abusers. She enthusiastically presents the best possible defense in litigating her cases, turning over every stone and finding creative ways to push back against questionable claims, whether in litigation or not.
Sandy is a member of the Claims and Litigation Management Alliance and has also contributed articles and been an invited speaker of other industry organizations such as the Pennsylvania Defense Institute, the Philadelphia Insurance Society and the Pennsylvania Bar Institute.
Recognition and Involvement
Recognition & Involvement
Sandy is member of the American Legion Ladies Auxiliary, Oaklyn-Bettlewood Post 84, previously serving as Sergeant at Arms for several years.
Credentials
Bar and Court Admissions
Pennsylvania
New Jersey
U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
Education
Rutgers School of Law – Camden, JD, 1991
Rutgers College, BA, cum laude, 1988
News & Insights
Memberships
New Jersey Bar Association
Pennsylvania Bar Association
Philadelphia Bar Association
REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS
- Obtained a Judge’s decision, affirmed on appeal, that stopped the employer’s liability for a former nurse’s excessive use of opioid patches and lozenges
- Obtained a dismissal against a coal miner’s scar claims, with unique statute of limitations issues, up to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court level
- Obtained a Judge’s decision denying that a camera operator’s neck surgery was work related, despite the alleged whiplash from his car accident
- Obtained a Judge’s decision that denied a Claim against an electronics manufacturer when an inspector alleged his low back surgery was work related, but the defense established the injury leading to the surgery had resulted from a sneeze at home
- Obtained a Judge’s decision that denied a Claim against a truck manufacturer when an assembly worker alleged there was work-related ringing in his ears (“tinnitus”), and the defense successfully argued it was not a compensable “injury” as the law defines it
- Obtained a Judge’s decision that denied a Claim against a nursing facility when a CNA injured her wrist, but the defense established her loss of earnings was due to a positive drug screening, and not her injury
- Obtained a Judge’s decision that denied a Claim against a quarry when a heavy equipment operator alleged back and knee injuries from a fall, but the defense established his loss of earnings was due to his failure to return to modified duty, and not his injuries