Man, I rarely get shocked by the terrible performance of some Illinois workers’ compensation attorneys, but boy was I stunned recently.
An injured worker with a very big company had a major leg injury before they started their job. They were able to work the heavy duty job for about six months and then a forklift ran into them and made the leg injury worse. They now need a surgery that will be very involved.
This worker got an attorney right after the accident and received medical and lost time benefits for about four months. Then surgery got scheduled, approved and suddenly there was a delay.
Of course the insurance company for this big company got a hold of their old medical records and got a hired gun doctor to state that the need for surgery is this old problem, not from the impact of the forklift. So surgery is not approved.
Putting aside the fact that the defense to this case is a joke, it is now time for the lawyer to spring into action and do what they were hired to do. They need to protect their client. That, unfortunately, is not what happened.
“I Don’t Do Disputes”
When the injured worker called his lawyer to ask how he was going to be able to get the surgery, his attorney told him, your case needs to go to trial. But I don’t do disputes.
Uhm, what???
I looked this attorney up and his firm does all sorts of areas of law including criminal defense and traffic cases. The lawyer does mention work comp on his page, but nowhere does it say that he only handles easy cases that settle without a problem.
This certainly would have been useful information for this worker to have before they hired this attorney, especially because their employer is known for being very difficult on work comp cases.
The end result is not terrible as it is an easy case to win and there are plenty of good attorneys that will take a case to trial at the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission.
This is a great example of why we recommend that before you hire an attorney, ask them how many trials they have handled in the last year. Nobody should want to go to trial, but if it has to happen and you do not have a fighter in your corner, you are screwed.
I know plenty of defense attorneys that do not like to take cases to trial either. The difference is that they get paid by the hour so they will grin and bear it.
An attorney like this guy should not be taking cases at all. Complete joke and terrible advocacy for those he is supposed to help.
One more thing. I was expecting this lawyer to be in his 70’s or older given how little he appears to want to work. He wasn’t that old, but is in his 60’s. I know a ton of lawyers in that age bracket who are still highly motivated, but also a bunch that only work because they have to or do not want to be at home all day. It is another thing to look out for before making a choice as to which firm to hire.
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