Workers Compensation Lawyer in Chicago, Illinois Work Injury Attorney

In general, if you are driving your car to work to start your day or home after a long days work, injuries that you sustain in a car accident are not covered under the Illinois Workers' Compensation Act.  There are, however, a few exceptions.

1. If you are a "traveling employee" and driving to or from a client site, injuries from a car accident would likely be covered because you are benefiting the employer.  An exception would be if you "deviated from your normal route."  e.g. If you were driving to a client meeting, but stopped at the mall to go shopping.  An injury there would not likely be covered.

2. If you are carrying materials for your employer.  In a recent case, a construction worker loaded materials in his truck at the end of the day to bring back the next day.  Because this activity benefited the employer he was able to win benefits when he was in an accident.

3. We have seen cases where employees drive around company cars that essentially serve as an advertisement for the company.  You've surely seen cars with websites and phone numbers all over them.  When this happens and you are in an accident while driving, a strong argument can be made that promoting the company was part of your job.

The general theory around all of these cases is that the employer "expands the range of employment" by having transportation be used for the benefit of the company.  If you think that is what happened to you let us know and we will tell you if we think that you have a 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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A laborer asked us this question recently.  We have been surprised by the number of union workers who are told that they "have" to hire a certain attorney.

The answer is that this is not true.  Nothing about being in a union changes how a case gets handled.  Unlike employment law agreements (e.g. how many hours a week you can work, having a hearing process for firing someone, etc.), a union agreement with an employer can't change how the law is enforced.  Some employers and unions have tried to limit the benefits that members can receive and this has been thrown out of court.

Why would a union steward tell you that you have to hire a certain attorney?  A reasonable guess is that they are getting something out of it.  We are certainly aware of law firms that regularly "entertain" union officials with golf outings, tickets to sporting events, trips and even gifts.  We've heard rumors of some firms providing illegal financial kickbacks.

Some of the attorneys the union tells you that you have to hire are outstanding and others are not.  We hear from a lot of clients that they felt the attorney was more concerned about the union boss than them as an actual injured client.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the union telling you that they think attorney X is a good lawyer or having them suggest multiple firms for you (that happens with us by the way).  But for them to tell you that you must hire a certain law firm is false and certainly implies that they are looking out for themselves, not for you.   That simply doesn't happen in strong union organizations that really care about their members.

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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In a recent Chicago Tribune article, it was noted that a Judge in Indiana ordered an insurance company to pay for lap-band surgery for a 340 pound injured worker.  It was the doctor's opinion that before back surgery took place the worker needed to lose a lot of weight in order for it to be successful.  The worker was 340 pounds when hired, but the doctor and Judge felt that the work injury made the weight situation worse.

I have researched this issue and as far as I can tell, a similar case has never been decided in Illinois.  It came up on a case I handled a few years ago, but my client decided not to pursue it because he had an $800,000 offer to settle and was going to take $25,000 of that money to get his surgery. 

The reason this issue probably hasn't come up in the past in Illinois is the same reason my client didn't pursue it.  You can all but guarantee that the worker who takes this one will have a case that is going to at least the Illinois Appellate Court.  I think that an injured worker whose doctor wants them to have weight loss surgery would win their case, but it might take 3-5 years before the case is finalized.  In the meantime you might be in serious pain and without financial benefits.

Would you want to suffer for many years in order to help out future injured workers that are in the same shoes as you?  I wouldn't.  The only way that we actually see a case like this going before a Judge is if someone has health insurance that can pay for their care and in the meantime the attorney can file the court case with the expectation that by winning the health insurance company will get paid back.

Workers compensation laws in Illinois really favor the workers, but when you have a unique issue, you can win your case, but still feel like you lost because your claim was dragged out in court for years.

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 are an Illinois employer or doing business in Illinois and you don't have workers' compensation coverage, it's a felony.  This assumes that you have employees.  In other words, if you are the only employee you don't have to coverage, but if anyone works for you, you do.

In addition, you can't have an employee sign away their rights to workers' compensation coverage.  Even if they signed that type of document, it would not be enforceable. 

Also, some employers try to get around this law by calling their employees independent contractors.  If they truly are employees - meaning that you have a right of control over them - then they would still be covered under the Illinois Workers' Compensation Act.

From the worker's standpoint, rest assured that your employer doesn't set the rules, the state of Illinois does.  No matter what your boss says, you are covered if hurt on the job.

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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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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We get e-mails and calls all the time from people wanting to know "What is my case worth?"  Today was from a guy who just broke his leg and had surgery less than a month ago.  Needless to say it's too soon to tell him what it is worth.

That said, there are often times when the answer to what a case is worth is, "there is no amount that makes sense for you."  That doesn't mean you are going to become a millionaire; rather it means that we think  you would be best served by keeping your medical rights open as relates to your injury for the rest of your life.

To achieve this, all we have to do is take your case to arbitration and win.  Assuming your injury is work related, this will happen.  The negative is that you don't get a lump sum settlement.  The positive is that you still get paid what your case is worth (it just gets spread out in weekly payments over a year or so depending on how seriously you were hurt) and your medical rights as relate to this injury stay open forever.

In other words, if you have a back fusion and may need surgery in the future, this is a way to have peace of mind that any future medical care will be paid for.

We always tell our clients to think long-term and suggest that you take that approach too.

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 unions in Illinois try to steer their clients to a particular attorney to represent them when they are hurt.  Unfortunately, they don't always do this because they think that is the best attorney for their union member.  Rather, it's often because that lawyer or his firm has provided a kickback or other incentive.  If you don't believe that, ask your lawyer how many times he has taken the union steward to a Bulls, Cubs, Sox or Bears game.  It shouldn't happen, but the reality is that it does.

The good news is that you can hire anyone that you want to help you secure the maximum benefits available to you and you should do that.  It doesn't cost you any more money to hire the right attorney and certainly there is only one person you should be looking out for; YOU.

The way our firm works is we have a network of aggressive lawyers throughout the state that have a niche with different types of work injuries.  In other words, if you are in Chicago and have a carpal tunnel case, there is a lawyer we work with that has handled hundreds of those cases.  On the other hand, if you have a heart attack on the job or a spinal fusion from a work injury, there is a different lawyer that is right for you.

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