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Attorney Bill Oppenheimer kept a baseball bat in his office the whole time he represented injured workers. Once he received a threatening e-mail from a claimant who warned that he'd been to state prison and wasn't afraid to go back.

Now, he's a defense attorney for the County of Santa Clara and he feels much safer, he said.

That's not the experience of applicants' attorneys after a colleague was gunned down in his Santa Cruz office two weeks ago.

The fatal shooting of Santa Cruz attorney Jay BloomBecker two weeks ago by a client, and a frightening incident earlier this year at the Oakland workers' compensation court have led to more security and training at law firms and state buildings, WorkCompCentral has learned.

Acts of violence are unusual in California workers' compensation cases, yet attorneys say they constantly witness signs of the intense frustration that allegedly pushed a former BloomBecker client to commit homicide.

BloomBecker was found shot to death in his law office on June 14. Angus Macintyre, a former client whose disability claim had been settled, allegedly confessed to sheriff's deputies that he had gunned down the attorney.

BloomBecker's slaying marked the third perilous incident this year for California workers' comp professionals.

In February, James Hazen, 42, of San Mateo, allegedly threatened to kill workers at the Division of Workers' Compensation headquarters at the state building in downtown Oakland, but changed his mind and left after talking about his frustration with an officer of the court.

Hazen subsequently was arrested while driving home, and a gun was found in his vehicle.

Also in February, a claimant beat a defense attorney with a hammer in a Pasadena doctor's office and chased him until the attorney wrestled the weapon away.

Attorney Erwin A. Nepomuceno with the Los Angeles-based Manning & Marder, Kass, Ellrod, Ramirez suffered head and back injuries in the attack.

Police arrested the alleged assailant, Mulji Patel and charged him with assault with a deadly weapon.

The three incidents have created plenty of bulletin-board discussion about violent outbursts against attorneys and what should be done when a person appears to be a danger, according to Ray Frost, chairman of the executive committee of the workers' compensation section of the California Bar.

"We're hearing about it more, basically through the various workers' compensation applicants' attorney networks," Frost said. "We're hearing about angrier applicants."

The high-profile incidents in Santa Cruz, Oakland and Pasadena have prompted attorneys to consider office security measures to protect themselves and their staffs, Frost said.

A hotly debated item is whether the attorneys should arm themselves for self-defense, he said.

"There is discussion among applicants' attorneys whether we should keep guns in our offices," Frost said.

After the Oakland state building incident in February, the DWC increased security. The nonpublic areas of the workers' compensation court and offices are passcode-protected, with doors that can only be opened by someone authorized to be there, said DWC spokeswoman Susan Gard.

"DWC is having (California Highway Patrol) evaluate all its facilities to help determine how best to increase security at the various sites around the state. Since we have a variety of offices and circumstances we expect to have a variety of recommendations from them.

"Metal detectors may be one of the options they suggest," she said.

In law offices, metal detectors and CHP officers aren't practical options.

Oppenheimer, the attorney who armed himself with a baseball bat, said he was threatened with violence four times in his 24-year career in workers' comp. He says he'll never forgot the worst of those threats.

When he represented the Pebble Beach Lodge and Golf Resort, an injured worker threatened to burn down the resort and skin his boss alive, Oppenheimer said.

"I don't keep my home phone number listed anymore," he said.

Oppenheimer said he once considered keeping a gun in his office, but a law-enforcement officer advised him not to. Instead, the attorney made do with a bat.

Frost said aside from planning for their safety, attorneys have to consider how their reaction to the threat of violence can affect their ability to represent their clients. He said he knows of one instance in which an applicant threatened to go to the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board and kill everybody with an Uzi. The defense attorney in the case balked at settling.

"The defense attorney brought up a really good point: If we do this, we're teaching this guy that all he has to do is make a threat and we'll react," Frost said.

That leaves attorneys with a big question: What do you do when someone makes a threat or seems on the verge of acting out the rage?

Frost mentioned several options for attorneys worried about security. He said they can plan a quick escape route for employees, or designate a safe room that can be locked from the inside.

He said the threat of violence is giving workers' comp lawyers a lot to think about.

"Do you block off the reception area?" he said. "Put up doors? Do you report threats right away? Do you let the claims examiner know right away? The police? The doctors?"

Applicant attorney Jane Wynn, who is president of the Santa Cruz and Salinas chapter of the California Applicants' Attorneys Association, said she senses growing frustration among injured workers about how the system treats them.

"With the changes that have taken place, the impact has been enormous on injured workers from every perspective," she said.

As for her role as their attorney, "I take a deep breath and continue to treat my clients with dignity and respect as individuals."

She said she's witnessed blowups by clients who take out their anger on their attorneys.

BloomBecker understood the frustration of applicants and took steps to help them to control their emotions, said Bob Taren, a Santa Cruz applicants' attorney who was a good friend of BloomBecker's.

He told WorkCompCentral that his friend went out of his way to educate his clients to prepare them for the stress they feel because of the loss of their health and livelihoods.

"Jay would run lunch programs for his clients to talk about how to cope with the system," Taren said.

Macintyre was one example of such applicants, according to Workers' Compensation Appeals Board records.

A qualified medical examiner reported that Macintyre's back and upper-extremity injuries from his job at a rock quarry were complicated by psychological issues. Macintyre suffered from anxiety and depression, and he refused his physician's recommendations to ease his chronic pain, the records show.

Macintyre in late 2005 signed a stipulated settlement with his employer, West Coast Aggregate, and its insurer, State Compensation Insurance Fund, for a $64,000 permanent disability award, and $62,000 in medical and hospital bills paid. He had received $117,000 in temporary disability benefits and more than $9,000 in permanent disability payments before the settlement, according to his case file.

But Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Department investigators say Macintyre was upset about his settlement and wanted more money. Macintyre reportedly talked about guns and the National Rifle Association when he dropped by BloomBecker's office to demand that his disability settlement be reopened.

BloomBecker's girlfriend told the Santa Cruz Sentinel newspaper that Macintyre had run out of his settlement money.

-- By Rob McCarthy, WCC Editor

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