A caller to my office wanted to know if his situation was normal for an Illinois workers’ compensation case.

Long story short is that all of his bills have been paid as has all of his time off.  His attorney called him in January and said to expect a settlement offer any day.  Well here it is more than ten months later and any day hasn’t happened yet.  So he wanted to know what to do if you are waiting for a settlement offer and nothing ever happens?

The answer really depends.  If you don’t have a lawyer and haven’t formally filed a case with the State via an Application For Adjustment Of Claim, it could be that the insurance company is trying to make you wait too long to file.  Essentially by delaying you they hope to bar you from ever getting a settlement.

If you do have an attorney it usually comes down to one of the following:

1. Your lawyer is lazy.

2. Your lawyer isn’t sharing all the information with you.

3. Your case has slipped through the cracks.

Whatever the reason, there’s only one thing your attorney can do if they can’t get a settlement offer for you or don’t like the one that they’ve been given.  They simply have to get the case ready for trial.

That doesn’t mean the case is going to trial, it means that you are creating a deadline for the insurance company. If they want to settle then let’s talk, if not then let’s have an Arbitrator decide what the case is worth.

Sure there are some cases that are better off never going to trial, but if you won’t act like you will go to trial, they will never take you seriously.  And if your lawyer has a reputation of not going to trial, you’ll either get a low ball offer or no offer.

Like most Illinois work comp situations, this isn’t rocket science.  90% of success in Illinois work comp claims is showing up and doing the work that needs to be done.  Of course the facts are the most important thing, but good facts without effort results in nothing.

As always, if you have any questions about your Illinois work injury claim, call or email us for a free consultation.