Winning a Joliet Workers' Compensation Claim
In life, who you know is often more important than what you know. I will never forget my first workers' compensation trial months out of law school. The Arbitrator didn't know who I was, but was clearly pals with my opponent. The facts were on my side, but we lost due to their relationship.
Years later I tried a very similar case in front of the same Arbitrator who by then knew me well. I of course won that time because he wasn't doing a favor for his buddy against someone he didn't know.
Knowing the Arbitrator is important for any type of case. If you are hurt in Cook County it's impossible to predict who the Arbitrator will be because there are so many that could be randomly assigned. In the suburbs and downstate there are usually just one choice and you know ahead of time who it will be.
Joliet used to have two Arbitrators and they were very different from each other. Now there is just one Arbitrator and she has been around for a long time. In fact her husband is a workers' compensation attorney as well.
If her husband doesn't like you, I don't think that bodes well for you. Same if she doesn't know you or like you. Her husband can't handle cases assigned before her, but many of his friends do.
I've appeared before this Judge, but not for a long time and I don't know her husband. But I do know the attorneys that know them well and while that won't guarantee a result, I do believe that if all things are equal it can make a huge difference.
The bottom line is that whether you need a Joliet workers' compensation attorney or one in Decatur, Rock Island or anywhere else, before hiring an attorney you should ask them what they know about the Arbitrator and how often they appear before them. Failure to do that could ruin your case.
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