Workers Compensation Lawyer in Chicago, Illinois Work Injury Attorney

My first trial many years ago I represented a woman who did semi-repetitive work on the job and per her doctor had carpal tunnel.  I was fresh out of law school and my boss at the time asked me to go to trial to get the experience.

My opponent was kind of an older attorney and didn't seem very organized.  We talked before the case went to trial and he was encouraging me to settle.  Young and confident with marching orders from my boss I told my client to decline the settlement offer.

I thought the trial went well as my nervous client testified well.  However, it was clear from the get-go that my opponent and the Arbitrator had a great relationship.  I was addressed as "counselor", my opponent was called by his first name.  During a break the two of them yucked it up.  Six weeks later I got the result and the case was denied.  To this date it's the only time I've represented an injured worker and lost a trial with no compensation (as discussed in this blog, that is no great deal as our firm only takes on legitimate injuries).

The lesson from all of this is that while the facts are important, the ultimate income often depends on things you can't control.  Because of this experience I launched www.findgreatlawyers.com to point people in the right direction for their case.  We have a state wide network of attorneys that helps people find the right lawyer for their case.  If you have a Lake County workers' compensation case, we will connect you with a lawyer that not only focuses their practice on job injuries, but has a great relationship with the Arbitrators up there.  Same for any other county.  This gives you the best chance of success.

Had my boss done the same thing in 1997 our client likely would have won her case.

We are workers' compensation attorneys that help people with Illinois work injuries anywhere in IL via our statewide network of attorneys.  Contact us and we will answer your questions or find the right lawyer for your situation.

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Our law firm is unique in that we are a network of attorneys throughout Illinois that solely help injured workers.  What we do is listen to your situation and recommend the attorney within our network that best fits your needs.  There are about 20 firms that we work with.  The goal is always to have the right lawyer work on the case.  Whatever is best for the client is how we guide our decisions.

This was well demonstrated in a call the other day.   A stuntman injured his shoulder severely while working on a movie in Chicago.  The movie was about football and he was injured making a tackle.  Within our network is an attorney who is also a college football referee.  He has more than 25 years representing injured workers and refereeing football games.  Not only does he understand work injuries, he understands football injuries.

Not that other lawyers in our network or other firms couldn't get a good result for this client, but clearly this is the best attorney for this guy.  At the least we believe that he gives him the best chance for success.

If you contact us we'll tell you who is the right lawyer for your unique situation.

We are workers' compensation attorneys that help people with Illinois work injuries anywhere in IL via our statewide network of attorneys.  Contact us and we will answer your questions or find the right lawyer for your situation.

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Probably 20 times a year we get a call from someone who was injured on the job and was asked by their boss to tell the doctor it happened some other way.  Usually the boss either threatens a job if you don't or says that they'll take care of everything if you just play ball.

Let us be clear.  LYING IS THE WORST THING YOU CAN EVER DO ON A WORK INJURY CASE.  As soon as you tell a lie it has to be un-done.  We have never seen a situation where a scumbag employer made promises to take care of a worker if they don't file a case and actually protected that worker.  If your boss is asking you to lie make no mistake; that person isn't looking out for you.

We are workers' compensation attorneys that help people with Illinois work injuries anywhere in IL via our statewide network of attorneys.  Contact us and we will answer your questions or find the right lawyer for your situation.

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Writing that title actually makes me feel odd because it comes off as if we are encouraging someone to file a case.  We only take legitimate cases with serious injuries that are backed up by medical evidence.  We also follow case law updates and use the law to help our clients.

One case from a few years back found that someone who had worked a repetitive nature job for just a couple of days and developed carpal tunnel was entitled to Illinois workers' compensation benefits.  Her doctor said that the new job activities aggravated a pre-existing condition.  Under Illinois law that is the standard to be met for proving a case.

While you can expect that if you allege an injury on the first week of the job that the insurance company and/or employer will fight you, if it's a legitimate injury supported by your doctor, we will fight back on your behalf.

We are workers' compensation attorneys that help people with Illinois work injuries anywhere in IL via our statewide network of attorneys.  Contact us and we will answer your questions or find the right lawyer for your situation.

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We are representing a very nice woman who broke her hip when she fell off of a chair.  She had to go to a nursing home as part of her care after surgery.  Her doctor believes that while in the nursing home she contracted C-diff which is a very severe infection of the bowels that can be life threatening.

When this client came to us, the insurance company was agreeing to pay for the nursing care for the hip, but not for the C-diff problems.  They tried to get our client to put that through Medicare.

The law in Illinois is clear.  Anything that arises from the original injury is part of the workers' compensation case.  We have had cases where clients on crutches after knee surgery hurt their elbow because of the crutches.  That was covered.  We've seen people go in for routine surgery and become brain damaged from a surgical error.  That was covered.  We certainly expect that our new client will have all of her bills covered by workers' compensation as well.

It's important for our client or anyone else not to have Medicare or group insurance pay for these bills.  If they realize that they paid bills in error they can sue you to recover what they paid.

We are workers' compensation attorneys that help people with Illinois work injuries anywhere in IL via our statewide network of attorneys.  Contact us and we will answer your questions or find the right lawyer for your situation.

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A client of ours has been off work for 18 months and is now receiving social security disability benefits.  It is not clear if she will be able to ever go back to work and she asked us if getting social security proved that she is permanently disabled for workers comp purposes.

The answer to her question is no.   Number one, the findings of social security aren't worth anything.  Their standards are different than the Illinois work comp standards.  Number two, it depends on her future medical improvement.  Getting social security doesn't mean that you are disabled forever, it means that there is a reasonable expectation that you won't be able to work for twelve months.

If our client's neck injury gets better and she can return to some sort of work, she will not receive permanent disability benefits as long as there is a stable job market for her.  Time will tell.

We are workers' compensation attorneys that help people with Illinois work injuries anywhere in IL via our statewide network of attorneys.  Contact us and we will answer your questions or find the right lawyer for your situation.

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A recent caller wanted to know how much we charge to represent him because he didn't think he could afford an attorney.  He was pleasantly surprised that we work on a contingency basis and receive 20% of what we recover when the case is over.

This is nothing special to our firm.  Illinois law prevents Illinois workers' compensation attorneys from charging anything but a contingency fee if they win.  In other words, if a lawyer asks you for money as part of representing you, run the other way.

There are also some attorneys that try to take 20% off of your TTD benefits or medical expenses when they do nothing more than make a phone call or write a letter.  We never take money for TTD unless we go to trial and we don't take money that is to go for our client's medical expenses ever.

We are workers' compensation attorneys that help people with Illinois work injuries anywhere in IL via our statewide network of attorneys.  Contact us and we will answer your questions or find the right lawyer for your situation.

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The Occupational Disease Act is for the most part the same thing as the Illinois Workers' Compensation Act except that it deals with injuries that are a result of exposure to chemicals or other occupational hazards.  It's not like lifting a box where something happens and you know you are injured.  Rather it's an exposure that over time causes a problem.

We are investigating the case of a firefighter who has developed leukemia.  Some studies show that firefighters are at risk for leukemia to do exposure to toxic chemicals when responding to a fire call.   On top of that, there is exposure to benzene and other chemicals when driving their trucks.

Much like a typical repetitive trauma case, if your doctor says that your job contributed to your disease, you are eligible for benefits even if your job is not the primary cause.  100% of your medical bills should be paid, you'd get 2/3 of your wage tax free for your time off work and you'd be entitled to compensation for the permanent nature of your injury.

Because these problems don't show up right away, many clients are under the gun time wise to get a case filed.  If you think you are injured from an exposure to chemicals at work do not delay seeking a lawyer.

We are workers' compensation attorneys that help people with Illinois work injuries anywhere in IL via our statewide network of attorneys.  Contact us and we will answer your questions or find the right lawyer for your situation.

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Generally speaking, if you are hurt due to the negligence of your employer or co-worker, you can't sue for negligence.   That's one of the trade-offs of Illinois work comp law and in most cases it's well worth it because Illinois offers great work injury benefits to employees.

That said, it's shocking to us how few attorneys do a real analysis as to what other cases might exist.  So many take the approach that they only represent you for the work injury.  That may be true (and that's all we do), but as an attorney you should still do your best to offer a full analysis of what rights your clients may have.

Perhaps you were illegally fired.  Maybe you are owed overtime benefits.  Possibly someone who is not part of your company was negligent and can be sued for the extent of your injury.

One of my favorite clients is a nice young man from Indiana that we represented for free because he became paralyzed after a fall from a scaffold.  He worked for an Illinois company, but got hurt in Wisconsin so he at first contacted an attorney there.  That lawyer got him workers' compensation benefits in Wisconsin, but failed to investigate whether or not he could have gotten more in Illinois and shockingly never did an investigation as to whether or not the scaffold company could have been sued.

By the time he got to us it was too late to sue the scaffold company and all we could do was increase his benefits based on Illinois law.  Fortunately he had a legal malpractice lawsuit against his first lawyer, but really it should never have come to that.

We are workers' compensation attorneys that help people with Illinois work injuries anywhere in IL via our statewide network of attorneys.  Contact us and we will answer your questions or find the right lawyer for your situation.

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It's probably also a big mess.  We decided long ago not to get involved in uninsured cases because regrettably we found that you usually can't collect in these cases.  In other words, we might win your case, but it's doubtful we'll see any money for you or us and if we do it's usually nowhere near what the case is worth.

If your employer says they don't have work comp insurance or you know that they don't you should report them to the Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission Department of Insurance.  If they do their job they will investigate your employer and hopefully help you.

The most recent tragic example we saw of this was from a caller who has been a mover for 23 years and blew out his knee.  His employer shockingly doesn't have insurance and now this guy is faced with a career change.  We can only hope that the employer goes to jail.

We are workers' compensation attorneys that help people with Illinois work injuries anywhere in IL via our statewide network of attorneys.  Contact us and we will answer your questions or find the right lawyer for your situation.

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The Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission just released the following statement:

In plain English, permanent partial disability is what you get for the permanent nature of your injury once you are all better.  The amount you get paid is based on the date you were hurt, the extent of your injury and the amount you were earning when you got hurt.  The PPD rate is 60% of your wage and is subject to a maximum amount.  Click here for the rate chart.  The Commission had incorrectly stated that the maximum rate was $643.82.  If you are a high wage earner your case is probably worth more money now.

We are workers' compensation attorneys that help people with Illinois work injuries anywhere in IL via our statewide network of attorneys.  Contact us and we will answer your questions or find the right lawyer for your situation.

Due to a clerical error, the maximum PPD rate for 7/1/08 - 6/30/09 that was posted in January 2009 was wrong. Please note the correct rate is $664.72. We apologize for the inconvenience.

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Temporary total disability benefits (TTD) is compensation you receive for the time you are unable to work do to a work injury.  In Illinois that figure is 2/3 of your average weekly wage, tax free.

TTD is supposed to start once you miss four days of work.  You don't get paid for the first three days off unless you are off for two weeks.  In that case you are to be paid retroactively.

The trick is that days off count.  In other words, if you work Monday to Friday and are off work Thursday, Friday and Monday, you have really been off work for five days not three.  Make sure you get paid for this and no matter what they tell you, you don't have to use vacation days.  If you do we should be able to get that reinstated for you.

We are workers' compensation attorneys that help people with Illinois work injuries anywhere in IL via our statewide network of attorneys.  Contact us and we will answer your questions or find the right lawyer for your situation.

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There is a Federal Law that protects the interests of Medicare.   Basically if you have an injury now and some day need treatment for it and go to Medicare to ask them to pay for it, they are going to ask how you originally hurt yourself.  If they discover that it was from a workers' compensation claim they can deny payment if you failed to protect their interests.

Before we settle any case where it is anticipated that our clients will need future medical care we do what is called a Medicare Set Aside.  Basically an independent company comes in and states what the present cash value is of the future medical needs.  It is up to the insurance company to fund an account to pay for this treatment.  If you can prove to Medicare that you considered their interests you should have no worries.

If the insurance company won't provide this or if it's needed, we take our cases to trial.  If you win a work comp trial you keep your medical rights for life as it relates to that injury.

We are workers' compensation attorneys that help people with Illinois work injuries anywhere in IL via our statewide network of attorneys.  Contact us and we will answer your questions or find the right lawyer for your situation.

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Presumably it's not that you are a really good football player.  What you have in common is that even NFL players and other professional athletes are covered by Illinois workers' compensation laws.  If they get hurt while playing they are entitled to the same benefits as you or me.  The only major difference is that most pro athletes will exceed the maximum weekly TTD benefits.

One other possible difference is that if a pro athlete has a career ending injury and they are smart, for the rest of their life they should receive the maximum permanent partial disability rate tax free.  That's because in almost any situation they would have a "wage differential" case.  Even if they can work a new job it's unlikely that they could make as much money as they used to.

Most workers on the other hand, even if they have to get a new job, don't lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in salary.

So the next time you see a pro athlete get hurt on the field it may be an Illinois work injury claim.

We are workers' compensation attorneys that help people with Illinois work injuries anywhere in IL via our statewide network of attorneys.  Contact us and we will answer your questions or find the right lawyer for your situation.

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Just got off the phone with a nice woman whose husband had a piece of wood go through his leg.  This happened six months ago.  He had a surgery to remove the wood fragments and his employer's insurance company paid all of his medical bills.  He asked for a settlement and they said no because "you don't have a permanent injury."  His leg is now bothering him so he asked for more medical care.  They said no because "we closed your case."

Not withstanding that there are time limits to formally pursue a case, the insurance company can't on their own decide a case is closed.  The only way to do that officially is for the case to be settled.  This client can get more treatment at their expense.

On top of that, despite them saying he has no permanent injury, almost any injury has some settlement value.  We don't pursue superficial injuries, but this guy had a leg surgery.  I don't know what it's worth until I see his medical records, but based on his wages it's likely somewhere in the five figures.

So no matter what you are told remember that you can take control of your case.  You just need to know the law.

We are workers' compensation attorneys that help people with Illinois work injuries anywhere in IL via our statewide network of attorneys.  Contact us and we will answer your questions or find the right lawyer for your situation.

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If you type all day and get carpal tunnel syndrome it wouldn't surprise anyone that your injury was in part caused be your job activities.  Prove that and you win your case even if you have underlying risk factors.

We've stood before many an Arbitrator and had injured clients demonstrate how they used their hands when typing and the pain they noticed.  Unfortunately you can't easily demonstrate how you use your heart when working.

The fact of the matter is that if your job plays a role in having a heart attack you should have an Illinois workers' compensation case.  I'm not talking about normal stress, but rather the actual job duties.  In other words, if you are lifting heavy material all day it's going to make your heart work harder.  If after a day of heavy lifting you have a heart attack we think it should be a work comp case.  Or if over time you do a ton of lifting, work in extreme heat or cold or do anything else that is a risk we'd likely pursue your case.  To win we simply need to talk to your cardiologist, explain the law and ask if your job played any role in your heart attack.

We do the exact same thing on all of our other cases.  Just because you can't see how the job caused your injury doesn't mean it didn't happen.

We are workers' compensation attorneys that help people with Illinois work injuries anywhere in IL via our statewide network of attorneys.  Contact us and we will answer your questions or find the right lawyer for your situation.

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We are looking to speak with someone who either gave a gift with a gift receipt or received a gift with a gift receipt and returned it.  If that is you please let us know at (800) 517-1614.

We are workers' compensation attorneys that help people with Illinois work injuries anywhere in IL via our statewide network of attorneys.  Contact us and we will answer your questions or find the right lawyer for your situation.

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We got a call from someone in the suburbs who got hurt in Palatine, hates coming to the City and wants to file her case at the Rolling Meadows courthouse.  We explained that you can't file a workers' compensation claim at that location because all Cook County workers' compensation claims are filed at the Thompson Center in Chicago.  This isn't a choice by our office, it's Illinois law.

This is also why you don't find many lawyers in the suburbs who do nothing other than represent injured workers.  If your office is in Schaumburg it doesn't make sense to have a practice that requires you to be in the City every day. 

So if you are hurt in Cook County your case is in Chicago.  If you are hurt in DuPage County  while working then your case is in Wheaton.  If you are hurt on the job in Lake County your case is in Waukegan.

The good news is that our firm has a network of attorneys throughout Illinois and in almost every situation we can handle your case without you having to travel.

We are workers' compensation attorneys that help people with Illinois work injuries anywhere in IL via our statewide network of attorneys.  Contact us and we will answer your questions or find the right lawyer for your situation.

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Illinois is what we call a worker friendly workers' compensation state.   One of the odd rules that we have is called "contract for hire."

In plain English, this means that if the last act needed to make you an employee took place in Illinois, then any work injury claim you have for that company can be filed in Illinois.

For example, let's say you are a trucker that lives in Florida and are sent to Chicago for a physical before you get hired.  If you pass the physical and accept the job while in Chicago then for the rest of your employment you can file an Illinois workers' compensation claim.

This would be true even if the only time you ever were in Illinois was when you got hired; no matter when the injury took place.

So if you are a trucker, flight attendant or anyone else that might benefit from this rule, pass it on to your co-workers.

We are workers' compensation attorneys that help people with Illinois work injuries anywhere in IL via our statewide network of attorneys.  Contact us and we will answer your questions or find the right lawyer for your situation.

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We recently posted about a client that got benefits for an accident on a mechanical bull while a traveling employee.  A reader was wondering if she would have recovered had she been drunk?

In general, being under the influence of drugs or alcohol makes your case not compensable.  The reasoning is that it's not reasonably foreseeable by an employer that one of their employees will be intoxicated while on the clock. 

Now it's probably also not reasonably foreseeable that an employee will get hurt riding a mechanical bull or falling into a volcano (see our previous post), but we really think that the Courts in Illinois wanted to draw a line somewhere and rightly or wrongly they drew it at being intoxicated.

We are workers' compensation attorneys that help people with Illinois work injuries anywhere in IL via our statewide network of attorneys.  Contact us and we will answer your questions or find the right lawyer for your situation.

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