Ensuring That you Get A Full Settlement for your Individual Injury Filing
By: Gwendolyn Magno | Posted: 27th April 2010
If you have a personal injury claim, your case can be won by a lawyer with experience in worker's compensation.
Be sure to take time to consult a lawyer concerning any specific legal information you need. Not everyone knows that compensation and personal injury law can be viewed in the same general terms. However, each person can have a slightly different situation, so is better to have a lawyer provide more precise information.
One should be aware that any additional qualifications that are listed by an attorney's name are not indicative of proof that the individual has been recognized or accredited in any specific area of the law. Any potential client is encouraged to do an independent investigation, and evaluation, of their own when they're considering any lawyer. Finding out whether you need a lawyer, or which one you should hire, are very important decisions that you don't want to base on an advertisement or someone who touts their expertise.
One example would be an injury your knee at work, having to go for surgery, and ending up with permanent restrictions. Due to the limitations put on your job duties, your boss fires you, even though you've given him/her 22 years of service. Moreover, your physician tells you your knee has suffered a 20% loss.
The insurance company tells you that you will receive 44weeks of workers' compensation benefits. But what if you're entitled to more than this? Because there is the possibility of better compensation than may be obvious to you, first thing you should do is set up a meeting with a reputable and experienced workers' comp lawyer.
A knee injury is a scheduled claim. Under the corresponding schedule a knee injury will be compensated based on a formula of 220 weeks. 44 weeks is 20% of 220 weeks, indicating the amount of weeks which your insurance company will cover.
It is most likely that you are entitled to get a second opinion concerning the rating. One example would be if you find yourself have experiencing problems with depression due to the work-related injury, you may be owed higher benefits. If the knee injury results in back problems as well, there may be even more benefits due.
If you've been injured at work previously, you can file a 'Second Injury Fund' claim as well, and claim further benefits. Body parts that this applies to include the leg, knee, foot, arm or hand. The bottom line is that you don't just automatically accept whatever the insurance company says to you. Visit an established attorney who deals in workers' comp in order to explore your options, rights, and other factors in your case.
Further questions you may also be asking include, why defendants think they can get away with making up excuses to avoid responsibility for an accident they caused. The insurance companies expend a tremendous amount of effort to perpetuate the idea that most personal injury cases are simply a waste of time for the court system, because they are bogus.
It's too bad that the defendants have succeeded in putting this idea into the heads of a lot of people who could one day be on a jury. Your jury has effectively been brainwashed by the insurance defense industry to automatically disbelieve claims made by injured parties.
The defense industry has become arrogant enough to believe that any excuse them come up with will make sure the defendants will be cleared of any responsibility for their own negligent actions. This is due to jurors having been preconditioned to assume that anyone filing a lawsuit is just looking to get some easy money. This problem is most prominent when the plaintiff's injury is not obvious or visible, for example, a back injury in a soft tissue area.
Occasionally, the jury's doubts about the plaintiff are justified. It is important that the jury be just as skeptical of the defense as they are of the plaintiff. Of course, our legal system entitles both complainants and defendants to be heard by a fair and impartial jury.This article is free for republishing
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Tags: proof, important decisions, second opinion, advertisement, lawyer, boss, insurance company, insurance, 22 years, personal injury claim, personal injury law, fires, knee injury, different situation, workers compensation, compensation benefits