Because we are experienced Illinois workers compensation lawyers and because we have a state wide network of great attorneys, people come to us for all sorts of questions. One of the big ones isn’t just, “Who should I hire?” but also, “Should I get a work comp attorney at all?”
The God’s honest truth is that in almost every case, the insurance company is looking for a way to terminate your benefits if they can. This can be done in a variety of ways. They use recorded statements, nurse case managers, IME’s, surveillance and other tactics. They might be nice, they might be mean, they might be neutral in how they treat you. But make no mistake, the goal is to limit what they pay you.
If you get hurt at work and just have an ER visit and a few days off, you likely don’t need a lawyer. There’s not much we can do for you, but we are happy to give a free consultation and offer advice.
On the other hand, if you have an injury that is more than a contusion or minor soft tissue injury, it’s worth at least having a conversation with a lawyer. For example, the other day we talked to a southern Illinois injured worker who tripped on the job. He has a back injury and his doctor has him out for a month. Work comp won’t return his calls. It might be a big case, it might be a small one, but he needed to understand his rights.
The bigger the injury and the longer the case is going to drag on, the more important it becomes in my opinion to have an attorney. Even if we don’t have to go to court right away, you need an attorney to make sure things don’t happen that shouldn’t like recorded statements or the nurse manager talking to your doctor.
And if things to go bad, having a case on file can help you solve the problem sooner. So if your doctor says you need surgery and the IME doctor says you are fine and can go back to work, your case likely needs to go to Arbitration. If you have a case on file already with a lawyer, that will allow you to get into court faster. And priority for hearing cases is based on how old the case is. The older cases get preference. In other words, if you wait to file, you might delay your case by many months.
The biggest reason people don’t hire an Illinois work comp attorney is because they don’t want to give up 20% of a potential settlement. Few things about that. First off, the insurance company doesn’t have to make you an offer and often won’t if you haven’t officially filed a case with a lawyer. Second, if they do offer you something, it’s almost always more than 20% less than what a lawyer could get for you. And often they try to settle before you should (meaning you still need medical care or to prove you can do your job) or without things you are entitled to like future medical care in some cases. Finally, we’ve seen countless cases where not only you get more with a lawyer, but in some cases that amount is $100,000 higher or more.
The risk you run in not getting a lawyer is twofold. First, your case can get screwed up in ways that we could have prevented that you didn’t see coming. Second, if they make you a settlement offer and it’s low, it might be high enough that no attorney will take the case. I’ve seen a bunch of cases where a settlement offer was $50,000, we felt we could get them $70,000, but it’s not worth the time as we only get paid based on how much we increase the offer. So an injured worker gets stuck with a low amount and worse, they often have medical bills or lost time payments they are owed that the insurance company won’t compensate them for.
So the bottom line is that if you have an injury, it’s likely worth at least having a conversation. If you’d like a free, no commitment and confidential consult, call us any time at 312-346-5578.
