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dgruber@goldbergsegalla.com
716.566.5491
Buffalo
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Damon M. Gruber

Partner

dgruber@goldbergsegalla.com
716.566.5491
Buffalo

Damon M. Gruber founded and co-chairs Goldberg Segalla’s Workers’ Compensation group, a rapidly expanding team of over 100 attorneys across the firm’s 21 offices, serving insurers, third-party administrators, and major self-insured employers in a variety of industries. Over the past 12-plus years of Damon’s leadership the team has revolutionized the practice of workers’ compensation. Devoted to making a lasting difference for each client’s workers’ compensation program, Damon developed a cohesive and holistic model built on efficient file-handling and cost-effective closure, long-range strategic management of risk programs and caseloads, and proactive efforts to identify new efficiencies and reduce workplace injuries. Directly handling workers’ compensation claims in over 10 states and overseeing local counsel in many others, Goldberg Segalla is recognized today as the preeminent workers’ compensation practice in the nation.

In chairing and overseeing the Workers’ Compensation group, Damon ensures the highest standards of client service across the firm’s coast-to-coast footprint, while acting as a trusted counselor to some of the nation’s largest employers and workers’ compensation carriers. As a significant part of his practice, Damon works alongside other leaders in the group to create and execute plans for aggressive file closure, settlements, and national risk management, and to implement tailored programs that target reducing costs involved with Medicare Set-Asides, opioids and other prescription drugs, long-tail claims, permanency awards, return-to-work issues, and emerging risks.

Damon and his team now serve as a partner to many national self-insured companies, including some of the largest and most prominent employers in industries including construction, retail, trucking, maritime, health care, sports and entertainment, staffing, and manufacturing. Damon also works closely with the firm’s other practices to ensure clients receive coordinated representation for all their legal needs — often identifying impactful cost-saving synergies by tackling interrelated workers’ compensation, employment, traditional labor law, general liability, corporate and transactional, and other issues together.

With nearly 20 years of experience personally handling as well as managing workers’ compensation litigation, Damon’s background in the field includes all aspects of the claims process, from providing initial handling recommendations to overseeing every stage of litigation, with extensive appellate experience in cases involving sports law, hearing loss, psychological stress, and insurance coverage issues. Damon is a prominent speaker and author on all aspects of workers’ compensation law. He has spoken at SEAK’s annual workers’ compensation conference, chaired multiple ExecuSummit seminars, and has been extensively involved in many legal and business organizations.

Related Areas

Workers' Compensation

Industries

Retail and HospitalityCannabis and HempFood and BeverageHealth Care

Honors & Awards

Upstate New York Super Lawyers, 2017–21

Business First‘s Legal Elite of Western New York, 2017–19

Upstate New York Super Lawyers, Rising Stars, 2013

Business First‘s Who’s Who in Law

Eagle Scout Award

Admissions

  • New York

Education

  • State University of New York at Buffalo Law School, J.D., 1999 (Regulatory Law Concentration; Specialization in Health Care Law)
  • State College of New York, B.A., cum laude, 1996

Professional Affiliations

  • New York Self-Insurers Association
  • Claims and Litigation Management Alliance
    • Former Member, Retail, Restaurant & Hospitality Community Advisory Board
  • National Retail and Restaurant Defense Association (NRRDA)
  • Organization of Public Employee Negotiators

Community Involvement

  • Former Coach, Mathewson McCarthy Baseball
  • Former Coach, Amherst Youth Basketball
  • Past Assistant Scout Master, Boy Scouts of America Troop 652

Publications & Events

  • Quoted in “Goldberg Segalla Workers’ Compensation Practice Featured in Daily Business Review, Law360 for Growth in Florida,” July 13, 2021
  • “Virus Could Spur Avalanche of Tort and Employment Litigation,” Courthouse News, March 27, 2020
  • “New Law Limits Exclusive Remedy Protections for Work Injuries” (Co-Author), May 29, 2019
  • Co-Author, “Data-Driven Solutions for America’s Expanding Obesity Problem,” USLAW Magazine, Spring/Summer 2016
  • Co-Author, “Fighting Disability Fraud: How the Long Island Railroad Could Be a Model for All Employers,” USLAW Magazine, Fall/Winter 2014
  • Co-Author, “Employment of Undocumented Workers by Subcontractors: Evaluating General Contractor Workers’ Compensation Potential Liability,” USLAW Magazine, Spring/Summer 2014
  • Co-Author, “Construction Injury Case Changes Game for Workers’ Compensation Defense,” Progress! Under Construction, September 2013
  • Presenter, “I Was Told There Would be No Math: Using Data and Analytics to  Improve Performance Across the Industry,” New York Self-Insurers Association Annual Meeting 2020, New York, NY, January 15, 2020
  • Presenter, “Workers’ Compensation Difficult Cases: Achieving Closure,” SEAK, June 11, 2015
  • Presenter, New York State Public Employment Labor Relations Association Annual Conference, Saratoga Springs, NY, July 17, 2013
  • Presenter, “Interplay Between Benefits,” Advanced Workers’ Compensation CLE, March 2013
  • Presenter, “Defense Counsel & Claimant Counsel Go Head to Head on The ‘Reform’,” Buffalo Claims Association’s 21st Annual Education Day, Niagara Falls, NY, November 2012
  • Presenter, “Fundamentals of Workers’ Compensation,” Sterling Education Services, Inc., August 2009
  • Presenter, “The Rocket, Docket, Update on Reforms and Interplay Between Benefits,” September 2009
  • Presenter, “A Post Reform Workers’ Compensation Update,” New York, NY, August 2008
  • “Coronavirus Risk Forecast: Coverage and Claims Analysis for Toxic Tort, Employment, Workers’ Comp, Cyber, and Insurance Policy Concerns,” (Co-Presenter), Perrin Conferences, March 27, 2020

Recent Insights

Judge Langham Announces Broad Changes to Processes in Florida Workers’ Compensation Cases

May 26, 2022

Recent California WCAB Panel Decision Creates Hidden Exposure to Post-Settlement Penalties and Interest

May 23, 2022

Fraud Still Doesn’t Pay in New York—May 2022 Update

May 9, 2022

Taking the Pain Out of the Complex Regional Pain Syndrome Medical Treatment Guidelines from the NY Workers’ Compensation Board

April 4, 2022

In Florida, Clarification of Workers’ Compensation Language about Employer-Provided Transportation and Traveling Employees

March 24, 2022

Keeping an Eye on the New Eye Disorder Medical Treatment Guidelines from the NY Workers’ Compensation Board

March 21, 2022

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Goldberg Segalla is a national civil litigation firm with more than 20 offices in 10 states spanning major metro markets across the U.S., providing strategic coverage wherever our clients do business. As a firm of experienced litigators and trial attorneys, our capabilities span business and commercial disputes, employment and labor, insurance coverage, product liability, and more. Today, our nearly 400 attorneys are trusted counselors to public and private clients in key sectors and industries including construction and energy, transportation, manufacturing, retail and hospitality, and insurance.

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