It has been a historic year for Dennis Madigan, after what seemed like an endless wait for justice.
His ordeal began with a terrible accident in 1949: Madigan was just a boy working at a Barrie gas station when he lit a cigarette and caught fire.
Madigan, who was fifteen at the time, spent three months in the hospital. His entire body burns meant he couldn’t sweat, causing an odor that made him a social outcast at school. He dropped out in the ninth grade, gave up his dreams of working on the railroad, and got a job in a meatpacking company.
But in 2021, his story took an extraordinary turn, the Star reported in July. After seven decades of legal wrangling, file research, and most of all, waiting, Madigan won a claim for compensation for the workplace accident, after a court ruled that he should have been eligible for benefits all those years ago. .
It was a pivotal decision, affirming the importance of giving workers the benefit of the doubt in complex compensation cases where there is roughly equal evidence for and against an injury claim.
At the time, Madigan still didn’t know exactly what victory meant. The court ordered the Board of Insurance and Workplace Safety to decide the “nature and duration” of the compensation he would receive, a process that required looking into the past to evaluate old medical records and determine the extent of disability. of Madigan.
The prospect of waiting longer, in a system that had often been felt against him, was a stressor for Madigan. But not long before Christmas, he found out about their settlement and is excited.
“It was very good,” he told the Vancouver Star. “More than what I expected”.
With his trademark modesty, he would rather play “close to his chest” about the exact dollar amount, but suffice to say it represents decades of living with a permanent physical disability and includes a pension that will help you outgrow your gold. years.
What he does not capture is the emotional trauma he has suffered as a result of his injuries, the sense of social isolation. His scars were a problem for his first wife, he says; she left him, taking her two children with her.
But Madigan remarried a woman whom he says has “had a good life.” You’ve given him half of his six-figure settlement money.
“My wife helps me a lot,” he said.
In fact, Madigan, now in her 80s, says she feels she received “more help than she deserved.” His case was defended at the board by his brother Frank, new Ontario Democratic politician Elie Martel and later former WSIB chair Odoardo Di Santo, who came out of retirement to help with the file.
“I tried to thank him, but he doesn’t want my thanks,” Madigan said. “He says I made him happy, and that’s enough thank you.”
“It’s true,” says Di Santo. “I’m very happy.”
The physical legacy of that day in August 1949 cannot be overcome; Madigan’s skin still itches and cracks if he hits his legs. But now he has “a little money to help out,” he says, and more importantly, he feels vindicated.
While the holiday season was uneventful for Madigan and his wife, it came with the comfort of knowing that their long battle was over.
“I appreciate everything that was done,” Madigan said. “We’ll be fine”.
Reference-www.thestar.com