Palm Beach County Workers’ Compensation Lawyer
A client wanted to settle and wanted their workers ‘compensation lawyer to clarify some questions.
Specifically, the client wanted to know why we can’t just get the case settled now.
This client had a workplace injury several years prior to hiring the work injury lawyer and had treated with several specialists who performed a myriad of medical procedures, including surgery, and had conducted numerous studies on various body parts.
The client couldn’t understand what was taking so long and why they wouldn’t just offer money to settle the case and let the client treat outside work comp.
There are many factors that go into the settlement and negotiation process. Some of the major reasons that settlements can take so long to complete include (but are certainly not limited to) the following:
1. The defense lawyer is lazy. We cannot tell you how many times we prepare our evaluations only to find out either the insurance company’s attorney, or their adjuster, never completed an evaluation. – The only thing worse than the insurance company not knowing what is going on with a file is the work comp insurance company showing up to mediation and not having any money.
2. How does number 1 above happen? Usually the work injury lawyer for the insurance company has failed to gather all of the necessary information, such as medical records and reports, and cannot advise their client on the case value. We know this goes on when we get last minute emails asking for us to send them doctor’s notes. Usually, this happens because they don’t want to admit to the adjusters that they never requested the medical reports.
3. The adjuster won’t return their own attorney’s phone calls or emails. Believe it or not, but sometimes the work comp insurance company adjusters won’t return phone calls. We know, we know; we hear it all the time: an adjuster not retuning calls. This is probably one of the top five reasons injured workers call and hire us. Though it probably won’t make you feel any better, if an adjuster isn’t calling you, or us, back, they are probably not calling their own attorneys either.
4. The insurance company’s attorney has another, bigger, case that is taking precedence over your case. This is totally and completely unfair, but it happens. Sometimes the insurance company’s work injury compensation lawyer simply has too much on their plate. When the insurance company is paying their bill, they listen when told what gets their top priority.
5. The insurance company’s attorney has undervalued the case and doesn’t want to look bad in front of their client. This happens more often than you would think. They either miss including an essential element or a major exposure to the carrier or make a settlement evaluation that is under what the case should settle for. This is important because most adjusters have to present their recommendations for settlement authority to a supervisor. However, they often cut and paste, or rewrite, the attorney’s evaluation. So they are basically passing along incorrect information. If this happens then both the workers’ compensation lawyer and their adjuster – are – looking at having egg on their face. This may result in a loss of files and/or a job.
While these are just some of the reasons cases don’t settle quickly, they are the most likely culprits. Remember, the work comp carriers want to settle your case so they can close them out and move on to the next one. They aren’t looking to keep cases open just to spite injured workers.
If you want to settle your workers’ compensation claim, or to find out if you have a case that might be settled, – contact us today to get a free consultation.
