Nobody gets rich off an Illinois workers’ compensation claim. That’s not to say that these cases are not worth a lot of money. They definitely can be. Some cases are worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, plus payment of all your medical bills. But rarely are they worth enough to never have to work again. And rarely are they in the seven figures.

A work injury can be worth many of millions of dollars though. And sadly, a lot of workers miss out on that because their attorney is either inexperienced or lazy. I’m talking about when you are injured due to the negligence of someone else.

When you get hit by a car on the job, it’s obvious that you may also have a personal injury lawsuit on your hand. The same is usually true for construction workers. But people who are injured due to slip and falls seem to have a lot of potential for missing out on making their cases worth a lot more.

Because personal injury lawsuits compensate you for pain and suffering, they can be worth a lot more money. That is not something available in Illinois work comp cases. See three scenarios below and think about who you might sue. Remember, you can’t sue your employer for negligence:

  • A school teacher slips on a floor that was waxed recently but not marked and tears her ACL.
  • A warehouse worker trips over loose carpet and tears his rotator cuff when he extends hi arm to brace his fall.
  • A truck driver slips on oil at a filling station and falls on his wrist resulting in carpal tunnel surgery.

None of these examples screams anything other than file a work comp case. And those workers took that step. That makes sense because it gets you immediate compensation for your time off work and payment of your medical bills.

But a lawyer not looking further could cost each of them a lot of money. The floor the teacher slipped on was waxed by an outside vendor, not a school employee. Because they didn’t put up a sign that the floor might be slippery, she didn’t anticipate that.

The warehouse worker fell over loose carpet that had recently been installed by an outside carpet company. It was not properly secured which contributed to the injury happening.

And in a recent case, the truck driver slipped because at the filling station, there was a grate there to collect any oil that spilled over. Drivers had to walk over this grate to do their job which led to them tracking oil to other locations. In this case, the injured worker fell on oil from someone else’s footprints.

His surgery didn’t go well and he developed CRPS or complex regional pain syndrome. That is a major, life altering injury. Because it happened due to the negligent way the filling station (not his employer) set up the oil grate, they became responsible for his injury.

This worker hired a great firm who did a great job. They sued and took his case to trial and a jury awarded him $32 million for how this injury will affect his life and earning capacity. He has not made a great recovery. The lawsuit alleged the defendant failed to ensure that the walking and working surface was maintained in a safe, suitable and proper manner, and it failed to ensure that excess oil did not spill, permeate or spread onto the walking and working surface, among other claims. The jury agreed and compensated him for his loss of normal life, pain and suffering and emotional distress.

I have seen a lot of disinterested and lazy attorneys. I also see law firms that assign big injury cases to young attorneys who don’t always know how to sniff out other legal issues. I would estimate that 1/3 of law firms out there would have missed this part of the case. Slip and fall cases are not easy and this one especially was not obvious.

Hiring the wrong firm would have been a $32 million error. The bills would still be paid and time off work would be compensated. There likely would be a settlement worth a lot too from work comp. But it wouldn’t give this worker and his family peace of mind like a personal injury lawsuit can.

The bottom line is that if you think your attorney is too young or not attentive, you can and should seek a second opinion. We are always happy to talk to you for free and in confidence at 312-346-5578.