There is a meme I saw that said something like, “Of all the things that never happened, that never happened the most.”
This popped in my head when thinking about the calls I get once a month or so from people who have Illinois work comp attorneys and are worried that their lawyer has been paid off or is trying to hurt their case.
One caller was upset because the IME doctor said they faxed a report to his lawyer and the lawyer said he didn’t receive it. Rather than think about all of the possible explanations such as them having the wrong number, a secretary misplacing it, the attorney not seeing it on his desk yet, etc., he assumed his lawyer was working against him.
Other callers have said that their attorney must be on the take because the case is taking so long. One, who won their trial, thought their attorney had been paid off because the appeal the insurance company filed has been pending for over a year. When I explained that is how appeals work and showed them where online to see the status of their case, they said their attorney had said the same thing. Why they’d not trust the attorney who had won their trial is a bit of a mystery to me.
None of this is to say that there aren’t attorneys who are lazy out there or doing a bad job on cases. This happens all of the time sadly and will continue to happen. I was called by a lawyer recently who had taken on a case, but wanted to bail on it because it needed to go to trial. He had essentially been sitting on if for six months hoping to get a settlement offer. His client suffered due to his laziness and incompetence. That situation happens all of the time.
But I promise you that even the worst Illinois workers comp attorney isn’t on the take or being paid off in any way to blow your case. That simply doesn’t happen. There have been attorneys over the years who have stolen their clients settlement checks or otherwise committed fraud. But it hasn’t been with the help of an insurance company. They simply don’t do that and nobody would because in the grand scheme of things Illinois work comp cases aren’t worth that much compared to what they’d have to lose.
Having these thoughts is normal so I certainly don’t blame the people who have them. We have been able to put a lot of people’s minds at ease with a second opinion phone call. If you’d like to discuss a case, we are happy to talk to you any time.
