Workers' compensation rates drop January 2009. While this may seem like good news for the industry, injured workers are discovering it is much harder to find legal representation when they are denied benefits insurance companies. This is because changes to the Workers Compensation Statute effective on October 1, 2003, all but obliterated a lawyer's ability to represent injured worker. It is a mess.

Injured workers needing the assistance of a qualified lawyer to bring a claim find themselves in a sticky situation. Their lawyers are only eligible for hourly fees from an insurance company in very narrow circumstances and in most instances not at all. For the most part lawyers may obtain a contingency fee only if the injured worker settles his or her case.

To see why these changes equates to no representation for injured workers, you have understand how the Florida Workers Compensation System provided benefits, and how an injured worker's lawyer made a fee under the system prior to October 1, 2003.

When an employee is hurt on the job, they are entitled to medical care or benefits and also a portion of their lost wages if they are unable to work - that's it. Unlike auto accident and other personal injury victims, they are not entitled to ask for money for past or future pain and suffering. They are not entitled to any money for any inconvenience because of the injury.

If an injured worker is unable to work and make what the made prior to the injury, and the partial loss wage payments from the insurance company is not enough to make the rent or mortgage - too bad. If the worker no longer is able to take part in activities they love then that is just too bad. The worker gets no compensation for loss of enjoyment of life. If a significant other suffers the loss of companionship as it was prior to the injury, they get nothing.

Prior to October 1, 2003, an injured worker could get legal representation because the law allowed, as a penalty, attorney's fees payable by the insurance company where the insurance company had wrongfully denied an injured worker benefits.

There was a contingency fee contracted between the injured worker and his or her attorney, but often it was not enough to make it feasible for a lawyer to spend the time needed to properly represent the injured worker's case. Simply put, workers compensation cases cannot command settlement amounts to match the true value of the cases.

If the injured worker wished to settle the case, the ability to have the insurance company pay lawyer fees also served to encourage the insurance company to pay fair compensation.

The crux of the problem with this change is it has effectively eliminated the proper and sometimes any legal representation for smaller cases and minor issues. If the injured worker with a catastrophic injury does not want to settle the case, then obtaining representation becomes difficult when the insurance company denies benefits.

Page 1 of 2 :: First | Last :: Prev | 1 2 | Next