At the end of the day, the answer to the question is” “Yes.”
However, whether or not you should settle a workers’ compensation claim is a personal matter that involves many factors. In Florida, the ability to settle a workers’ compensation claim is voluntary, meaning that you do not have to settle if you do not want to. Many times I speak to injured workers whose insurance company adjusters are calling offering them money to close their case before they are ready. If that’s the case, then don’t settle.
Under Florida’s workers’ compensation laws the value of a case can change depending on the timing of the settlement. If you settle early, you might not know the full value of your claim. If you settle too late, you may have passed the time when the case value had reached its peak.
A settlement in workers’ compensation is valued differently than any other type of law in Florida. Unfortunately, the insurance company’s lobbyists were able to get the Florida Legislature, your elected officials, to change the law to limit many of the medical and lost wage benefits that injured workers in other states enjoy. If you do not know the ins and outs of the law, if you do not regularly handle workers’ compensation cases and understand how insurance company adjusters evaluate cases, then calculating a case’s worth is extremely difficult for non-lawyers.
Maximizing your settlement recovery should not be something you take lightly. If you are hurt at work and thinking about settling your workers’ compensation case, don’t let the insurance company take advantage of you. Do not accept an offer from your adjuster directly and do not engage them in settlement negotiations. If you are serious about obtaining money from the work comp insurance company, you need to speak with an experienced workers’ compensation attorney right away.
