What do attorneys look at when they’re looking at a worker’s compensation case?

Well, the short answer is that they look at everything. And as they’re doing so, they keep their clients interests front and center, helping their client along every step of what can be a difficult process.

But anyway, here are some of the attributes that lawyers look at to assess a worker’s compensation case.

Nature of the Injury

First, you have to consider the nature of the injury at hand. Is it an accident injury, like a laceration or a burn, or is it more of a chronic condition, like carpal tunnel, or back problems that manifest in subtle and long-term ways?

With this kind of information in hand, you can move forward through a worker’s compensation resolution process.

Scope of the Injury

The attorney also has to consider the scope of the injury. If it is something like a laceration, how much blood loss did it lead to? If it was a burn, which classification represents the severity of the burn in question (1st, 2nd or 3rd degree?) and how long did it take to heal?

If it’s a chronic condition, these questions become even more complicated. For how long does this impact a worker’s life, and how much does it impact their life?

In the field of veteran’s benefits, the VA has a specific percentage calculator for looking at the scope of an injury or chronic health condition brought on in the course of someone’s military duties. Worker’s compensation systems start to address this, too, where the attorney uses specific tools and resources to try to assess the scope of an individual injury and advance the claim around it.

Where it Happened

Of course, another central analysis is whether the case is a worker’s compensation case at all. Here the lawyer and other stakeholders will look out whether an accident or injury happened on business grounds, or whether it happened in the course of someone performing his or her work. They’ll look at things like the employee or 1099 status. They’ll look at whether someone was using a company vehicle or other resource at the time. All of this will go into the hopper in evaluating the worker’s compensation case.

Partial or Permanent Disability

This goes back to the scope of the injury, but it also addresses the worker’s individual productivity over time.

Disability is another way to assess costs to an individual and to that person’s family. So that’s going to also have a bearing on many worker’s compensation cases.

What do all of these things have in common? They are part of the detailed analysis that attorneys do as they go to bat for local families and workers. At Hutchison and Tubiana, we have an excellent track record of representing our clients in a court of law. We want to make our clients’ voices heard in court and allow them to access their rights under the law. That involves understanding state legal processes, but moreover, dedicating the firm to working for an individual client and being determined and vigilant on their behalf. Take a look at the blog and the rest of the site for more information about how to benefit from good legal representation in Florida.