There are literally hundreds of reasons that you can win or lose your claim for benefits. Here are some reasons you’ll win: 1. Witnesses saw the accident. 2. Your doctor is respected and in your corner. 3. The accident was reported in a timely manner. Here are some big reasons why you’ll lose: 1. Surveillance video of you shows that you were lying to the doctor about your injuries. 2. The IME doctor is more believable than your doctor. 3. Your injury isn’t covered under Illinois law.
But above all the possible reasons for winning or losing, the biggest factor can be summed up in one word: credibility. How reliable are you? Do you seem like someone that would b.s. people, embellish an injury or make stuff up? Or do you come off as trustworthy and honest.
I thought of this recently when I was called by a carpenter who had badly messed up his leg when he fell off a ladder at work. He’s had a lot of bumps and bruises over the years, but despite the somewhat risky nature of his job, he had never filed a workers’ compensation claim. He’s a workaholic and the last thing he wants is to be injured.
Despite his history of being a great worker, the employer and insurance company are screwing with him. He was smart and got an attorney to be in his corner and look out for his best interests.
I don’t have all the facts on this case, but even without them I’ll bet that he will win because he’s clearly not someone looking for a quick buck. If we took his case to trial the first thing I would do is go over his long career and excellent safety history. Showing his work ethic really displays to an Arbitrator how credible he is. If the case ends up being a close call, that extra credibility will most likely swing things in his favor.
Compare him to the worker that called me a day before this guy. He had filed at least 10 prior cases despite being a fairly young guy. The insurance company was fighting case #11. He looks like someone who makes getting hurt on the job part of the job. Maybe he’s legit, maybe not, but he certainly doesn’t look like it.
If you are an Arbitrator and have to compare these two, one will stand out as slimy and the other will stand out as being a good guy. That doesn’t mean that the guy who has brought a ton of cases can’t ever get legitimately hurt again, but it does mean that he could be creating some trouble for himself.
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