Workers Compensation Lawyer in Chicago, Illinois Work Injury Attorney

If you want to bring an Illinois workers' compensation claim you must do it within the later of three years from the accident date or two years from the last payment of compensation related to the claim.  Three years from the accident date is pretty clear except when you have a repetitive trauma injury.  The last payment of compensation can be trickier.

The exception to this rule that not everyone knows about is that last payment of benefits can also include health insurance so long as it is through the employer where you got hurt.  So if your employer has Blue Cross and you get insurance through that, if they have made payments in the last two years toward your work injury then it is likely not too late to file a case.

This also holds true if the workers comp insurance company has paid medical bills or TTD benefits within the last two years.

Of course you can avoid any statute of limitations defense by formally filing an application for adjustment of claim which is the paperwork filed at the Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission to formally notify your employer that you are bringing a case.   This is typically the first thing an attorney does for his clients.  You don't want to lose the ability to pursue a case because of a technicality.

 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 lot of readers ask how long they have to bring a case.  Some have only been hurt a few days ago, some are going on a few years.

The statute of limitations to bring an Illinois workers' compensation claim is the longer of three years from the accident date or two years from the last payment of compensation. 

Three years from the accident date is usually straight forward unless you have a repetitive trauma injury like a back problem from a lot of lifting over time.

Two years from the last payment of compensation includes not only workers' compensation benefits like TTD or payment of medical benefits, but also payments for medical bills related to the injury through group insurance (if obtained from your employer) or disability policy benefits (again it must be through your employer).  We have seen cases where a statute of limitation had passed, but because an insurance company paid a bill all of the sudden the case was alive again.  This is very rare and as far as we know, workers comp is the only area of Illinois law where you can miss the time limits for filing a case and then possibly get it back.

There is also a law that says you must give your employer notice of an injury within 45 days of when you knew or reasonably should have known that it might be related to a work accident.   Failure to do so can cause your case to be dismissed. 

The reality is that if you are hurt on the job you don't want to lose your right to benefits over a technicality.  By hiring an attorney this should never 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 get asked this question a lot by people who have an Illinois workers' compensation claim.  The quick answer is that almost every case entitles you to some sort of settlement.  Even in the most minor of injuries an insurance company will usually offer some dollar amount to make a case go away.

We don't take "minor case" such as back strains with very little treatment or finger contusions.  But even in those cases an insurance company will offer you something.

For the cases we do take, as long as the accident is related to the job activities we always are able to get money for our clients and more importantly we protect them.  By that we mean that we never resolve a case until it's the right time, we make sure that all bills have been paid and we consider how this injury will affect them in the future.

Some people call us and say that the insurance company told them that their file was closed or that there won't be an offer. As long as you get to us before the statute of limitations expires, we can "re-open" your case and obtain appropriate compensation or other benefits 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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Insurance companies typically make money because most people are too nice or too scared to find out their rights.

Take Jim (name changed of course) who called us today looking to find out if we could help a two year old medical bill get paid.  It turns out that on April 28, 2006 Jim blew out his knee at work and had ACL surgery.  The insurance company paid him for his time off work and paid for all of his bills except this one that had gone to collection.  When Jim called to ask them to pay the bill no one returned his call.

Jim was just going to pay the bill (almost $1,000) out of his own pocket, but as you know, times are tough.  Fortunately he called us and even more fortunate is the fact that he didn't wait much longer because come April 29th his case would have been barred forever.  Now not only will the bill get paid, but Jim is looking at around $35,000.00 for his injury.

Now I can't say for sure, but a pretty educated guess is that the insurance company new that if they could just delay Jim for a few weeks that they would be off the hook and Jim would be screwed.

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 nice laborer who hurt his knee on the job, had surgery for a torn meniscus and for the most part has made a good recovery.  He's a the type of worker every company should want; doesn't make waves, works hard, shows up every day, etc.

His daughter called the insurance company and asked for a settlement offer.  Her dad would have taken whatever they presented no matter how low the offer was.  Instead the adjuster said something like, "Sorry, your case was closed and can't be re-opened.  There will be no offer."

WRONG!!!

An insurance company can't just close a case.   Now your case might be barred because of a statute of limitations problem, but some adjuster can't just one day decide to tell you that the case is over.  As they said in Animal House, "It's not over until we say it is!"

End of the story is that the case has been filed and you can bet our client who would have taken whatever was offered will be getting full value for his 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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