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Joe Rippinger Out Of The Hospital After Being Stabbed At LA WCAB. An Eye Witness To The Aftermath Tells His Tale.
By Lonce LaMon - May 27, 2010

Yesterday, workers’ compensation defense attorney, Joseph Rippinger, of the law offices of Graves & Bourassa in Tustin, California, was not yet back at work, but had been released from the hospital—County USC Medical Center—in Los Angeles after suffering a stab wound in his back with a 9” knife by an angry in pro per claimant. The attack happened last Thursday afternoon, May 20th, at the Los Angeles WCAB when claimant Andre Torres, who may have been looking for Judge George C. Reny, approached Joe Rippinger from behind while he sat making a phone call seated at a table in Judge Reny’s court room. .

There were other people in that court room along with Joe, and suddenly Torres just stabbed him in the back.

Daniel Perugini, who works for applicant’s attorney Manny Graiwer, whose offices are in the mid-Wilshire District of Los Angeles, was walking to the elevator when he heard a yell, “I’ve just been stabbed!”  He ran into the room.  He recognized Rippinger’s face.  “Being on the applicant’s side, I’ve dealt with countless attorneys.”  So, he knew Rippinger as a defense lawyer. 

“Joe grabbed a chair and dislodged the knife from the guy’s hand,” Perugini recalled.  “My adrenaline was pumping and I thought, if this guy moves I’m going to kick the shit out of him.”  

Daniel Perugini kept Andre Torres pinned down with the chair while waiting for the CHP and other police and security to arrive.  “It seemed like a fricken eternity (that it took the officers to get there) but it may have only been two minutes,” Perugini expressed.  “I thought, this is not real.  I’m going to wake up now.”   He called the experience “surreal”.

Then, when the police arrived, Perugini expressed that “It seemed like the entire LA swat team showed up.”   

It is now known that Andre Torres, a Los Angeles east side resident, had a comp claim which was C&R’d back in October of 2008.  He then changed his mind about the C&R, and acting in pro per, sought to have the court reconsider the C&R and have it set aside.

A 30 page complaint to the presiding judge earned Torres another chance.  And his trial on whether the C&R would be set aside was held in September of 2009 before Judge George Reny. 

Reny wrote in his ruling that he did not believe Torres had demonstrated good cause for setting aside the Compromise & Release.  He stated that basically the applicant made a lot of unsubstantiated allegations citing biased behavior against him by almost every participant in the case. 

But, Torres went on to continue to dispute the matter, complaining of continuing medical problems and requested resumption of medical care.   Jorja Frank, the presiding WCAB judge in Los Angeles, wrote back to the 38-year-old Torres explaining clearly that Reny’s decision was final and could not be re-litigated in his court. 

So, likely Torres was looking for Judge Reny in Reny’s own court room a week ago yesterday, and mistook Joseph Rippinger for Reny.  Obviously, Torres got into the building with the knife, which was undetected, as there are no metal detectors at the entrance.   Security measures to enter the building are very lax and quite poor.  One only has to show one’s ID, which is not even documented.  The WCAB in Oakland does have metal detectors, but not LA. 

In any case, Daniel Perugini was glad he was there when it happened.  He summed up his experience by saying, “I would have done that for anybody.  I’m not a stand by the wayside kind of guy.”  He added that the joke was now that Rippinger's law firm's work comp carrier was going to deny his claim.

Readers may write to writer Lonce LaMon at lonce@adjustercom.com

 

 
 

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