People suffering with serious injuries benefit from legal expertise.
Many workers’ comp cases are uncomplicated, and the injured employee heals and returns to work after receiving the proper benefits. Other cases have issues that obviously can only be solved by a skilled workers compensation lawyer. They may be denied cases, where the injured worker will only get benefits after going to court. Then there are the injured workers with complex claims who just don’t want to hire a lawyer. Their arguments against getting a lawyer make sense to them and I understand the need to save money. But even though I don’t like doctors and don’t want to pay one, I have to go to one now and then to stay healthy. And when I do, I want the best one I can get. Your workers’ comp claim is just like that. The more serious it is, the better your lawyer ought to be.
CASSIE’S WORKERS COMPENSATION CLAIM
Cassie is smart and motivated. A married mother of two, she worked her way up at a marketing company for 12 years. Now she travels with a team of other representatives to sales events. She made a good salary but worked long days. One night she was returning home from the airport and ran her car off of the road. The car flipped over and Cassie was lucky to live through the accident.
Cassie broke her leg in multiple places and sustained a head injury. But she was embarrassed that the accident was her fault. Cassie worked hard to get better but she had trouble concentrating on tasks and endured constant headaches. She was depressed about her medical challenges but thought the doctors were just too cautious when they said she could always have memory problems related to the accident. Cassie thought she would get better in time and tried not to complain.
But Cassie’s bills at home were mounting even with her workers’ comp checks. After three months out of work she lost her employee benefits. Her supervisor said that they were thinking of terminating her if she couldn’t come back to work soon. Her workers’ comp stopped the day she returned to work. Cassie was happy to take a desk job at work, even though it paid her less than half of her commission-based pay. Cassie had problems doing the job, especially when her headaches returned. When she couldn’t remember tasks she put up post-it notes on her computer monitor, and set reminders on the computer calendar. Cassie accepted the money the insurance company offered in final settlement of her claim for her injuries within weeks of returning to work. She was proud that she had asked for $10,000 more than the adjuster offered, and she got it. Cassie used the money to catch up on her bills and mortgage and then prayed for the best.
After a couple of months Cassie thought she was on her way back to earning her old job back. That is, until Cassie was terminated because she failed to get a second signature on a company check, something she had simply forgotten to do. Cassie was heartbroken and scared. She realized that her injuries were impacting her ability to make a living and that she might need to pay for tests and future medical treatments. What would she do now that the settlement money was gone?
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