Re the OP’s initial description below the OP’s burden of proof so he can sue the large international corporation is -
1: Prove that WCB coverage was not in effect by the company at the time of the accident
2: Prove that it was retroactively applied
3: If retroactively applied that this retroactive application was not simply due to WCB’s decision making latitude in these matters (which is apparently almost unlimited) but outright fraud by the large company or related players.
Is this correct? Are these your main legal burdens of proof?
And more specifically per the above even if you can prove 1 and 2 what are you going to do about the WCB’s apparent unilateral ability to determine who they will or will not cover?
Even if you can prove 1 and 2 and they say we have decided to grant WCB coverage for this workplace accident even though the employer did not meet all the numeric requirements re number of employees for coverage, what is your legal position to tell them they cannot if their statutory power to grant coverage is unilateral and almost impossible to challenge?
Right there the skeptic’s meter starts to ding. All of them conspiring against you. A big charge requiring big proof that you have not presented. To what end? To get you maximal amounts of disability payments you could be entitled to under WC despite the fact that there was no hard evidence that your disability was caused by the injury, apparently. You have your doctors saying you could work but that since you could make more on the dole it just would not be in your best interests to, and you took that money, and now are claiming you were not entitled to it because you think you might get more in a lawsuit. It does not come off well. It sounds like the WCB was generous and that you want more because the world is victimizing you.
What is reality? I have not a clue. But that is how it comes off based on what you have presented.
This is where you lose your case. It does not matter WHY you took the money. You took it,any case that still exsists is now between the WCB and your former employer. Of course they are going to tell you to take the money because they might decide to recind the offer. That is how bargaining works.
I’m so sorry, really, but you need to find a new direction to focus your anger on because you are never going to win this.
JFLuvly, why not start a poll? If a majority of Dopers don’t think you deserve lost wages (plus whatever it is you think you’re entitled to), then that would say something about your chances of winning in court.
What was the point of mentioning Rosa Parks et al. if you weren’t drawing a parallel between their fight and yours? There’s nothing wrong with drawing inspiration from historical figures. But if you’re going to point to them as examples of people taking a principled stand, then it would probably help your case if you followed their suit. If the WC was “hush” money to cover up wrong-doing, then you shouldn’t have taken it. Dire straits or not. You should also be prepared to return every last dime of it if it came to that. But it doesn’t sound like you’re prepared to do this.
MLK was willing to go to jail for his cause. He ultimately died for it. But at least he knew he had a social network that would care for his family in his absence. Doesn’t sound like you have that cushion. Before you ignore the wisdom that’s been shared here and escalate your legal battles, I would at least make sure that your family is covered regardless of the outcome. Your children shouldn’t have to suffer just because of your rage against the machine.
Life isn’t fair and sometimes it completely sucks. This is one of those times. You would be doing your family and yourself a favourite if you hit past it, let how of the bitterness, and maybe worked with a career counsellor to get some retraining and find something you can manage.
Everyone here is telling you the same thing the lawyers were telling you (by either dropping or not taking the case) - you can’t win, and even if you did, it’s not financially worth it.
I will come out and say it…Yes!
As a Canadian taxpayer who has paid you almost $250 000 over the last 8 years, I believe that for at least 7 of those years, you have been defrauding our health care system, WSIB and/or WCB and probably social assistance and the CRA.
Look, there are millions of people with disabilities who find their way back into the workforce yet you seem content to throw up your hands and sit at home and complain about it.
Secondly, you are able-bodied enough to go to the gym, play hockey and basketball and sit on the computer typing out these long posts for hours on end. These facts belie your injuries and that you are completely incapacitated and cannot work in any faculty.\
While I sympathize with any victim of a workplace accident (or any accident for that matter) I do not believe this entitles them to a lifetime of leisure on the public dime and the onus is on them to return to being self-sufficient within a reasonable amount of time.
Our social programs are designed to help people pick themselves up when they are down, not to carry them to the end.
Just for the record, you have not paid me a cent. Pension funding for the WCB comes from a fund paid for by the employers. To the best of my knowledge, no taxpayer money is put into this fund. I will also tell you that I have not taken a cent from the social assistance programs, but nice assumption though.
Once again I would like to remind you that WCB pays for the gym membership. I had stopped playing hockey and baseball and it was the WCB doctors that insisted that I go back and play, not me. It’s not like I am sneaking behind anybodies back to do these things, I am doing them under the recommendations of the doctors. The same doctors that say I cannot return to work. Just because I can sit in the privacy and quiet of my home and type at my leisure is hardly a case for me being able to return to work. Would you say the same to the guy who is suffering from locked in syndrome? The thread he started seemed quite coherent and long.
The consensus among the doctors is that the current passing through the circuitry of my brain has caused unknown damage, they all agree that something is wrong, they just have no idea how to measure it or put an exact name on it.
Are you kidding me, a lifetime of leisure? Have you read any of what I wrote? This ordeal has been anything but leisurely.
The onus here is not on me, it’s on the WCB to help me to return to work, ie: occupational therapy, retraining (sending me back to school) or just denying my claim and telling me to return to my old job. Something that they said I could not do, not me. Every test I went through, two eight hour neuropsych and three continuous days of physical evaluation plus numerous others, have all yielded the same results. The patient is not able to return to work. Do you think that there is no safeguards in place to detect malingering? Do you really think that they just say, oh you seem to be hurt, here, just stay off work for the rest of your life and we’ll pay you? If you really do, you may want to fight your own ignorance and do some research.
What do you suggest I do? I have no return to work or school support from WCB. Let me play this out for you. I say to hell with it, the people on a message board think there is nothing wrong with me so against the judgement of the WCB and my doctors, I am going to listen to them and go back to work. I take all my credentials, fix up a resume and start applying for work. I get a job offer and accept it. I go to work and either have a complete mental breakdown because of the stress or whatever or I screw up and someone gets seriously injured. I get fired and have to come home. So now I am home, I have lost my pension and have nothing but more stress caused by not only what went wrong, but also compounded by the fact that I now have no money to feed my family. What do I do now? I truly wish it was as simple as you seem to think. This is a very complicated situation, at least from where I sit. I want you to realize that I would love to return to my pre-accident employment, I loved my work, it fit my personality perfectly.
It’s not the fault of the WCB or your employer of anyone else that you “had to” accept that settlement because you were out of money and living on credit cards. It’s also not their fault you wife is having work troubles (which is what I suspect is really behind all this- I can see where losing your second income stream would be jarring).
You just seem to be petitioning for more money.
You are not entitled to more. And your story does not ring true.
The deal that you have is very generous. You claim you have no diagnosis, yet you receive $30,000 a year for some vague “75% disability.” You claim they did something wrong, but no one can prove it. You claim that you are disabled, but appear to be adequately capable.
You should enjoy your good fortune and move along. If you keep digging around here, they may figure out you are more able than you are claiming.
Also there are several convenient, "Well I don’t remember…"answers to important details, which is a little odd.
It sounds like you were hurt and the WBC went so far as to back date your employers coverage to get you some income, over none. And you’re pissed because you lost a chance to sue for big money.
Can’t see your position getting a lot of support or sympathy.
“You can’t always get what you want…but if you try sometimes…you just might find…you get what you need!” You’ve been given what your entitled to, from the sounds of it. Shame it’s not what you wanted, but the adjustment that needs to be made is in your attitude I think maybe.
Meh. Since you have repeatedly refused to identify the province in which you live in or the company you worked for, how are we to deduce which Workers Compensation plan pertains to you?
It’s a fair assumption, I’m sure if I dug deep enough I’d find there were some benefits that you enjoy on the backs of taxpayers.
And I’m not even gonna ask if you’re a licenced electricial who is permitted to work “live” on a 600V appliance.
I don’t know who you’re trying to fool but the symtoms you describe should make it impossible for you to go to the gym and play hockey and baseball. I coach baseball and play hockey regularly so I know exactly how demanding these sports are.
Most likely, the doctor mentioned that you should try to return to your regular activities.
The doctors are basing most of their diagnoses on your reported symptoms.
From OED:
I’ve been through a similar situation, so I’ll give you an out here, OK?
It’s possible your employer and/or your WCB would like the doctors to sign off that you are 100% to return to work and will have no issues which may become a problem in the future should they allow you to return to work. The doctors are reluctant to make such a judgment, hence the 75% evaluation.
The onus is still on you to change this evaluation or find employment that is suitable for your disability.
Anything. Something. What ever it takes. I’m not about to list all the ways other people earn a living but I’m sure there’s more than a few you would be able to, in your state.
Seriously? I said “I don’t remember” to three things…
My lawyer has the papers with the final decision on it, I’ll ask her to look at it and let me no then I will post it.
Do you really find this unusual? Most people in car accidents know what happened before and after the crash, not so many during it. They may know the car rolled over, but not how many times.
It was a short telephone conversation five years ago, I don’t remember exactly what was said so I paraphrased. Really not all that unusual.
I really don’t see how this is relative, I’m certainly not going to reveal the name of the people and companies involved. Most WCB policies are the same throughout Canada, but if you have a specific question, I will answer it.
There may be, but I can’t think of any off the top of my head.
You don’t have to ask, but yes, I was fully qualified to do the work I was doing.
That’s a great statement, but I have no idea what the relevance is.
Yes they did, knowing full well what those regular activities were, and specifically stating them in there reports. Once again, really no relevance.
So are you saying that I am making all this up? Do you really think that A) I could fool all of these specialists, by making stuff up and easily pass all the hidden test for malingering. The reason that I even know about these was simply because the results always came back with statements saying something to the effect that no malingering was detected and the neuropsych tests specifically mentioned that I passed all malingering tests. I will get you a direct quote if you would like. And B) Why would anyone in their right mind put themselves and their family through this? I’m pretty sure I that by the time all this was said and done, even if I did win, I could have easily made more money by now than I would get from a settlement and would have the ability to continue making that money,so at the end I would have been way further ahead by returning to work than to remain in this mess I am in now.
The truth is I have never sat down and thought of a number. For me this is a lot deeper than just money. One of the things that would truly make a difference to me is am acknowledgement that I am telling the truth. Regardless of anyone’s opinion, this is not just about money to me, something else that has been well documented. In fact at my last visit to one of my doctors we were talking about just that and he said, and I quote, " If you really think that anybody is going to admit that everything you say is true, then your…" and he stopped himself. We went on to discuss the opening of liability issues that no one was going to take responsibility for.
You guys can speculate until you’re blue in the face about whether I am faking this, lying, making shit up, capable of going back to work or got what I deserve. That’s fine with me, I didn’t come here to get beat up, especially by people who are using armchair diagnosis. I am doing my best to state the facts as they are, and I am trying to answer all the questions asked. Believe me when I say that I completely understand people being skeptical, half the time I have a hard time believing it myself. I have even went as far as to ask my shrink if he thought that my problems are not from the accident itself, but from the stuff that happened after the accident. I can see that as a possibility. I went for months with no income and I worried for years, because no one could tell me what was wrong, if they would cut me off because a lack of a clear diagnosis. I struggled to pays bills and feed my family. I wound up in a lawsuit after six years of trying to resolve an issue that turned a mole hill into a mountain, through no fault of my own. I knew I was going to lose everything I had worked for, and when I did it was absolutely devastating. How many times have I said that I would love to have been able to go back to work and just move forward. The damage done is mostly irreparable, I’ll probably never dig myself out of this hole. I have really struggled just to write this thread, it has brought up memories that I have tried hard to forget. Anyway at the end of the day I guess it doesn’t matter, maybe I am wrong, maybe I did get what I deserve, but deep down I can’t make myself believe that.