I get along with most of the insurance adjusters I’ve talked to over the years.  The lawyers I work with on cases throughout Illinois are the same way.  If you act like an asshole to the insurance company they will just punish your clients.  So we are nice in most situations and let the legal process be where we do our fighting. The lawyers I work with won’t get pushed around and will certainly push back when called for, but they aren’t going to hurt your case with their ego or attitude.

Most adjusters are reasonable people too and want to get along with people and get home to their lives.  They don’t necessarily want to do a bad job, but don’t care to pick fights. Those same adjusters though will be difficult if you are difficult.  In other words, don’t call an adjuster and scream, “Where the fuck is my check!?!?!”  It won’t help and will certainly hurt.

There are some workers compensation insurance adjusters who are just miserable people.  They treat every case as if it’s fraud or like the money for it is coming out of their pocket.  They don’t fight cases based on facts, but because they don’t want to see others get money when they have none.  They’ve lost all perspective and have no empathy.  You could get your leg run over by a forklift and they’d fight you from having a MRI or physical therapy three times a week instead of two.

They are the worst people to deal with, especially if you don’t know how to deal with them and they’ll drive an injured worker crazy. It can actually be bad for your health and recovery because of the stress and time delays the adjuster cause.  So what do you do?

While not every Illinois work comp case needs an attorney, if the adjuster is a pain in the butt, it’s a great idea and there are a lot of reasons why:

  1. An experienced lawyer has dealt with them before.  They will often act “tough” to workers but meek when a lawyer is on the phone. It shouldn’t be that way, but it happens.
  2. You get to focus on your health.
  3. If they are really problematic, it’s likely we know their supervisor and that person will take our call.
  4. A lawyer can fight for you without making emotional reactions.
  5. If benefits are improperly denied by the adjuster we can file court motions that will make them hire a lawyer. While they don’t always listen to their attorneys, if they are in the wrong, they will hear it from them.
  6. Our court motions can punish the insurance company with penalties and fees which will negatively reflect on the adjuster.

So while I won’t tell you not to stress when an adjuster is acting this way, I will tell you that it’s usually a solvable problem. If you want to speak with one of our experienced lawyers for free, call us any time at 312-346-5578 or fill out our contact form. We cover all of Illinois via our statewide network of aggressive attorneys.