Czuta finds fulfillment helping insurers, self-insured firms

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When Josh Czuta worked as an attorney at Liberty Mutual Insurance and saw workers’ compensation cases begin to arrive on his desk, he was unsure what to think.

Fortunately for him, it turned out to be the perfect fit.

“I started handling the cases and just fell in love with worker’s compensation,” said Czuta, an attorney at Peterson, Johnson & Murray in Milwaukee, who began devoting his time exclusively to workers’ compensation cases six years ago. “I love the clients and the cases are interesting. We also have an awesome practice bar. It’s such a wonderful group of people.”

Czuta, who is president of the Wisconsin Association of Worker’s Compensation Attorneys for 2017, can get involved with a case almost anywhere in the workers’ comp process, depending on the client. He could start as soon as when a client inquires about an incident or injury and s late as when a hearing application is filed.

“Worker’s compensation is a bit different from other litigation” Czuta said. “It does not have a formal discovery process, so I spend time interviewing my clients, talking to witnesses and doing a complete fact investigation. I also get a lot of information from medical records. The cases are very fact driven and those records can tell a lot.”

Instead of by jury, worker’s compensation cases are decided by an administrative-law judge.

Czuta’s clients fall into two buckets – insurance companies and companies who are self-insured. For businesses that work with an insurer on their worker’s compensation coverage, he brings in an adjustor.

“I represent the insurer and the company in that case,” he said. “Businesses that are self-insured usually have a third party administrator so it goes through that process.”

Case lengths vary. If one goes through the entire litigation process, Czuta can end up working on it for more than a year.

“These cases follow state statutes, but if the case is appealed, it can enter civil court and eventually case law can be affected,” he said. “It is definitely a fascinating part of the law.”

Wisconsin Law Journal: What makes your work important to you?
Josh Czuta: My undergraduate degree is in education, so I have a strong belief in educating people about their rights and helping them. As for why I majored in education and then went to law school, I do see a link between the two – you are presenting information, whether it is to a judge and jury or a group of students.

WLJ: Who is your hero in the legal field?
Czuta: I am regularly inspired by the other members of the worker’s compensation bar, whether it’s the applicant, department personnel or defendants. They all excel at what they do.

WLJ: What do you do outside of work to deal with stress from the office?
Czuta: I love spending time with my family, including my 2 ½-year-old and mini Goldendoodle. I am also a rabid Brewers fan and enjoy playing golf.

WLJ: What’s one thing many people get wrong about what you do?
Czuta: Since I am a defense attorney, sometimes people think I do not appreciate all aspects of a case, but I am always balancing out all the factors and taking in all parts of the case.

WLJ: What’s your favorite memory from law school?
Czuta: During my last year, I took a trial advocacy class and my partner and I received a unanimous verdict. It was very rewarding and a great way to end law school. I also made a lot of lifelong friends. While in law school, I also wrote a paper on lawyer jokes and discovered that one of the foremost experts on lawyer jokes – yes there is such a thing – was at the University of Wisconsin. That was memorable.

WLJ: Is there a certain case that stands out to you?
Czuta: There are so many important constitutional law cases in our country as it was growing and developing. It is too hard to pick just one.