Worker’s Comp

“If You Or a Friend or Family Member Got Hurt at Work, You Had Better Learn Your Rights and Protect Yourself, Especially In These Economic Times.”

1. Fall For What I Call the “Good Cop–Tell Me All About It” Routine. This is when the insurance adjuster or Nurse Case Manager acts like he is she really cares about you, your injuries, and your financial needs, especially after a work injury case when they KNOW you are hurting because no money is coming in. They call you, tell you not to worry about the medical bills, that “everything will be taken care of.” Be aware, they are doing this so that you open up, let your guard down, and provide them with a recorded statement, or sign away your rights on paperwork they send you to sign. Once the insurance adjuster or Nurse Case Manager uses the skills he or she has in getting the RIGHT kind of answers out of you (RIGHT for the company, but WRONG for you and any chance of getting a fair recovery) their attitude changes. They got what they wanted, and now, you cannot get a return call or any help whatsoever. I have even had a Nurse Case Manager tell a client of mine that “I’ll see what I can do about your TTD (time off of work)–and what she could do was absolutely nothing.

2. Give a Recorded Statement. Every insurance adjuster out there is trained by insurance company lawyers about WHAT questions to ask, and more importantly, HOW to ask them to get the answers they need to defeat your claim. Nurse Case Managers takes notes of your conversations and comments, and I have had several situations wheree these notes contain alleged statements that my client swore they never said! Giving a statement or even talking to the Nurse Case Manager is a big mistake in my book.

3. Sign the paperwork. This sounds like a horror story out of a book. And it is so underhanded and rotten, I can barely believe it myself. But early in my career, I was contacted by an elderly gentleman who could not read too well. He got hurt in an accident. The Insurance company told him “sign these papers we send you and we will send you $1,000.00 for your pain and we will pay all of your doctor bills.” Guess what? He got the $1,000, but because he could not read too well, he did not realize that notwithstanding the promise to pay the doctor bills he was told on the telephone, he signed away his rights forever. Even highly educated people’s eye glaze over when an insurance company sends them a document with teeny tiny print using legal mumbo jumbo. But that “legalese” can kill your chance at fair compensation. Be careful, VERY careful of what you sign.

4. Tough it our and don’t see a doctor (or see a doctor 3 months after the accident). When a seriously injured person fails to be seen by a doctor after an injury, it is like Thankgiving, Christmas, and New Years Eve all rolled into one for an insurance company. They love it. Now, you and I know that MOST people do not like going to a doctor, and MOST people put it off until they just cannot stand it anymore. But, when someone tries to explain that at trial, juries are skeptical. They think “this guy is asking for money for his injuries–how bad it could the pain have been if he waited a month to see a doctor?”– EVEN WHEN THEY THEMSELVES HAVE PUT OFF SEEING A DOCTOR FOR MONTHS OR EVEN YEARS FOR THEIR OWN MEDICAL CONDITIONS. A Workers Compensation work injury has to be reported to the company within 45 days of the incidient, and anApplication must be filed within 3 years or the case is over.

5. Try to Hide a Prior Medical Condition, Old Accident (or Lie About Anything, Really). When I was a young lawyer, I hard stories about lawyers who told their clients to keep old injuries a secret, or to try to suppress they fact that they had a car accident before. Aside from the fact that this is completely unethical, a lawyer can lose his license for suggesting this, and a client can lost their case, it is just plain stupid to try to do this. We live in the computer age. Believe me, there are databases that track everything about you, including prior accidents, prior medical treatment, you name it. You are just asking for trouble. I always advise my client to tell the whole truth. As Benjamin Franklin said: If you always tell the truth, you do not have to remember anything.

Obviously, these are just the top five–I see many, many more mistakes made in Workers Compensation work injury cases all the time, but the above five are probably the most common.

The best way to level the playing field and ensure that your rights or the rights of a loved are protected is to order my Special Injury Report and Audio CD, to arm yourself with the knowledge you need to protect your rights.

Mr. DeSalvo’s Free Injury Report and Audio CD

Consider hiring a skilled, aggressive, and ethical personal injury lawyer who knows how to handle an Illinois Workers Compensation case. Insurance companies hate it when a good lawyer gets involved in the case, because they know the shenanigans stop, and the injured person then has their best chance at fair compensation–the very thing the insurance company goes to great lengths to avoid.

I hope that this information has been helpful to you. If you have any questions or would like to consult with me about handling your case, you can contact me HERE.

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