Worker's Compensation lawyers

Factual Questions
1

How does a person go about finding a worker’s compensation lawyer?

Specifically, how does a person go about finding a worker’s comp lawyer who will work with the client over the phone only, who doesn’t expect payment unless a financial settlement is reached, who isn’t a scam artist, and who doesn’t cost the entire value of any potential financial settlement?
Basically, worker’s comp offered me a $5000 settlement. I tried to accept it due to the fact that I don’t have a penny to my name and I’m desperate. The hearing judge said no way in hell. He basically said that the insurance company is trying to screw me out of future medical care and that I am probably eligible for the money (and maybe more) anyway. He told me to get a lawyer and we’d reconvene in September.

Problems:

  1. I now live 300 miles from the hearing location.
  2. I have no car.
  3. I have no money for a lawyer.
  4. What’s the point of getting a shit settlement if I then have to give that to the lawyer?

I want the guarantee of ongoing medical coverage for my arm and I’d give up a cash settlement to get that. But, I’m worried about the whole lawyer thing. I’ve never had to have one. I’m wary of the only worker’s comp lawyers I can find online because they’re all the type to advertise during Judge Judy and that just makes me nervous. I’m nervous about getting a lawyer I never get to meet but it’s the only way I can do it.

I don’t know what to do. How do I find a lawyer in an area NY where the closest city is in another state and the next city is in another country? Especially how do I do this from MA and without the benefit of a car or money?

2

You don’t say where you are located but all states and many municipalities, counties etc, have a Bar Referral Service. You call the Bar association , explain what sort of lawyer you need, they connect you with an attorney in that area of law and you get a 1/2 hour consultation for a small flat fee (usually around $30).

If you let me know city/state, I can give you some links.

3

Thank you Hello Again. I am in MA but I need a lawyer in Plattsburgh NY. I already went up there for the first hearing, only to have it go completely bust. Supposedly we can do the second one over the phone but I still need to find a lawyer who doesn’t mind working over the phone.

4

http://www.nynd.uscourts.gov/pdf/legalaid.pdf

Has a listing for the Bar Association and Legal Aid in Clinton County. Different organizations, note.

5

I’m a worker’s comp claims adjuster but in CA, not NY, so this may not be applicable.

Here, the attorneys are limited to 15% of the total settlement amount, and they don’t take any fee until settlement.

Also, we have what’s called an I&A office - Information & Assistance, basically it’s for people who aren’t represented but need help in determining a fair settlement. See if there’s something like that for NY.

6

Here’s the page for the referral service directly. I noted that consultation is free for worker’s comp cases.
http://www.nysba.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Find_a_Lawyer&Template=/CustomSource/LegalInfobyCounty.cfm&cty=lrs

I don’t know if you’ll find anything helpful to your issue here, but the NYS CourtHelp website is designed to assist people with no lawyer.

7

My attorney took 10% and is taking it out of the monthly settlement checks I get and will continue to get for the next 27 months or so.

To the OP: please, please don’t settle for less than what you have coming. I know desperation can make you…well, desperate, but if there’s any way to beg, borrow, or steal (well, not that) to get by, please do it. Your employer will try to take advantage of you and will count on your desperation for a quick - and unfair - settlement (I was shooting for job re-training but my employer offered me a bogus light-duty job that paid considerably less than what I had been making and which they would only make available for a maximum of 6 months).

Is your injury a permanent disability? If so, please check into SSI. I was lucky; they accepted my claim the first time I applied but I’ve been told they often turn applicants down two or more times before approval.

I would think you could find a suitable attorney on-line for that area. Try googling “attorney workman comp” for that area and see what you find.

Edited to add: As far as upfront fees, I think it’s pretty standard procedure that any costs come out of the settlement, with no upfront money out of your pocket. At least, that’s the case around here.

8

For what it’s worth: my wife went through a worker’s comp lawsuit. During the process (which dragged on for a couple of years) we moved to a different state. The lawyer wrangled things so that the former employer had to foot the bill to bring my wife down for a deposition. The former employer insisted she see a doctor of their choosing, and they footed the bill to fly her down again. Everything else was done via mail or phone.

Whatever you do, don’t accept what’s offered. My wife was initially offered $8,000. Then she was offered $12,000. Both offers would have denied future medical costs. The final settlement (after lawyer’s fees) was closer to $35,000, with future medical costs included. (Frankly, even that number was low if you look at average settlements for her type of injury).

9

Thanks for all the information.

This whole thing sometimes seems so silly to me. After all, I only have tennis elbow.

It’s not until I actually try to use my arm for more than normal day to day stuff that I remember just why I am in this position.

I am not disabled. But, if I try to do things like mow the lawn, carry the laundry basket from the basement, give my 30 pound dog a bath without help, carry heavy groceries, etc., the pain starts to come back in my arm. Once I stop doing whatever is causing it, it will generally go away. I still sometimes have to use my tennis elbow strap when I do Wii exercises or when I do housework. Sometimes the pain takes more than a day to go away and requires ice and ibuprofen.

My employment history is packed with very physical jobs which nearly all require full use of my arms. The lightest job I’ve ever had was in an office but that required heavy amounts of typing. While typing is less painful than lifting heavy stuff, after a week of 8 hour days, I still end up with arm pain. This is really putting a damper on my medical transcription class (the one that has now cost over $2000, and which I started right around the same time this whole tennis elbow thing started). I’m beginning to doubt whether or not I’ll be able to work 40 hours a week in a typing job but I KNOW I wont be returning to anything more physical so what other options do I have?

I’m trying to go to college in the fall. I’m enrolled at the community college and ready to start. BUT, the financial aid office is so backed up that I wont find out until after the school year starts whether or not I even get any financial aid. If I start school and then find out I need more money, I’m completely screwed. Hell, I have to go to orientation tomorrow and I don’t even know if I’m going to school.

My boyfriend is happy to support me but since he works long hard days, it falls to me to take care of the house and the dogs. There are some days where I just can’t face cleaning or dog walking. I feel like a total burden.

Luckily the judge informed the worker’s comp company that I am still entitled to medical care, at least until the next hearing. So, if this current pain doesn’t ease up, I can try to find a doc in MA who will accept an out of state WC claim.

I will put these links to good use tomorrow. I really appreciate the information.

10

Again, my experience is in CA not NY but…

It’s the insurance company’s job to find you a doctor that will take their money, not yours. You can look around if you like, but as someone said above, if they can’t find someone close to you to treat you, then it’s their responsibility to fly you to a doctor who will.

11

That’s good to know. With any luck I’ll get one actually near me. There is a hospital 3 miles down the road. Of course with my track record, they’ll be sending me to Albany. :smiley:

12

My understanding is that, as a general rule of thumb in personal injury matters, an attorney will more often than not generate a settlement where the additional value of the settlement more than makes up for the attorney fees incurred. In other words, win-win. YMMV.

13

I contacted the Lawyer Referral Service for NY and was referred to a lawyer in the town I had been living/working in.

I had a minor misunderstanding of the instructions I received from the LRS. I thought they said the lawyer would be contacting me by mail. They said THEY would be contacting me by mail, with followup paperwork. So, I waited for him to call me until I got the mail from the LRS.

Once I realized my mistake, I called the referred lawyer on Tuesday. Since I’m in a different state (and he was busy that day), he made an appointment for me to call him this morning.

I am already very satisfied with him. He explained a lot of things that everyone seemed to assume I understood (but didn’t), such as when they say I have a 10% loss of use, what exactly does 100% mean so I have some point of reference. For anyone interested: 100% loss of use of a limb is total amputation, which means you’re entitled to 300-and some odd weeks of compensation at your regular pay. So, 10% means you’re entitled to 10% of those weeks, minus what they’ve already paid you.
Some things I’ve learned today:

  1. The state of NY worker’s compensation laws have no concern whatsoever for quality of life or mental pain and suffering. They ONLY thing they’re concerned with is loss of use. So, if you go into a worker’s comp hearing thinking you’re going to get hundreds of thousands of dollars for pain and suffering, think again (I wasn’t FTR).

  2. If you are in a worker’s comp settlement situation and you are offered money in exchange for signing a Section 32, make damn sure you aren’t expecting ongoing medical coverage because it’s extremely rare for a Section 32 to include it. They offer you a quick settlement to get rid of you. You ARE entitled to the money (based on the scheduled loss of use) AND the medical coverage. It’s not an either-or situation.

  3. It is against the law for your lawyer to charge you a fee UNLESS you are getting a financial settlement AND the judge allocates a fee to him/her. Generally their allocated fee from a settlement is about 10%. However, they can charge a consultation fee (in my case, if he does, it will be $35). They can also charge you if they are charged for things like copies of medical records. I asked him what the incentive was for him to take worker’s compensation cases. He said there wasn’t one actually. He said that he can have 6 hearings in one day and only receive a fee from 1 or 2 of them. I hope most of his other clients get higher settlements than what I’m probably gonna get. He does a lot of other kinds of cases (divorces and criminal cases, etc.) to make money.

  4. You are entitled to compensation for travel (not to hearings or to the pharmacy). So, when I was living in NY, all my appointments were within 5-8 miles from my home so that’s not really important. However, I have driven from MA-NY and back twice and those should both be covered. No one from the worker’s comp company ever bothered to mention this to me (big surprise).

14

Glad you’re getting (what seems to be) good advice.

15

Congodwarf,

I’d recommend still getting the mileage reimbursement for the ones that are only 5-8 miles from your house. Those are small, but they add up. For example:

Physical therapy, 5 miles from your house, three times a week for two weeks. Mileage is for the round trip, at $0.50/mile. That means $5 per trip, times 6 trips, that’s $30 right there. Add in two doctor’s appointments at 8 miles away, and you’re up to $46. And Worker’s Comp cases usually involve lots of doctors’ appointments over the years.

16

Oh, I definitely will. Actually, I’m glad you said physical therapy. You just reminded me that for 2 or 3 weeks, I was driving about 50 miles each way, twice a week, to get to therapy. I can’t believe I forgot about that. Damn. I’m going to have to go do some thinking to get it all down. Before I left NY, I was walking 2 miles each way, 2-3 times a week. The first time I went to an IME, I had to walk about 10 miles total to get there and back.

17

My mother is a paralegal for a firm in Plattsburgh that does civil law. I’ve forwarded your post to her and will report back any advice she has.

18

My state is somewhat similar. Lawyers tend to take those cases on a contingency fee, with the percentage capped by statute. The lawyer must submit the retainer agreement to the WC Commission for approval, and he can only be paid whatever they approve.

Also, in contingency fee cases where there has already been a settlement offer, some lawyers will base the amount of their fee on only the amount they obtain over the existing offer when they took the case.

19

Got a reply from my mother; I PM’d it to you. (Posting here in case you’re like me and tend to forget PMs even exist.)

20

Roland: Thanks. I do forget PMs exist. I have twice found messages that were over 6 months old and ended up feeling like a total fool when I responded to them.