Legal Question in Workers Comp in California

Re: Value of a Work Comp Claim?

All attorney fees must be approved by a workers' compensation judge. If you believe your attorney is not entitled to the fees requested, you may speak with the judge at settlement. However, most experienced comp attorneys bill at $300 an hour or more, so it does not take too long for them to generate a 12% fee.

It is not too late to seek another attorney, if one will take the case given that the fees will be split. Typically upper extremity injuries do not provide much impairment under the new rating system. However, without more information, I cannot really asses the possible disability you might receive. I will say that most people are unhappy with upper extremity settlements, especially now that vocational rehabilitation is not a significant issue.

Re: Value of a Work Comp Claim?

It has been many years since I last handled a W.C. claim, but:

1) the $1,000 agreement appears illegal since it must be Board approved and they approve percentage fees and not lump sums; ask teh attorney for his legal justification of the fee. If you get no good answer, report it to the local WCAB and the State Bar.

2) it sounds as though he has done very little on your case so should not get anything or very little of teh overall fee and probably will not even seek anything because of how he has acted;

3) he should have answered all of these questions

4) upper extremities inury never have been worth much in compensation; while your finger injury was painful, how much does it restrict your ability to compete in the labor market, which is how permanent disability is calculated. I would guess it is worth less than 5% PD unless you are in a job that really needs that finger. WC is not like personal injury cases; the benefits are much less in exchange for the employer being liable even if there was no negligence.

5) if the broken bone was from a silngle direct trauma and you were at work when it occurred, I fail to see how it could not be work related; so you lawyer probably has done nothing but open a file and send a form letter to the WC carrier;

6) see if your local Board has a public adviser for injuries employees; if so, find out from them the answers to your question. Likely your injury is so straight forward that you would get the same PD percentage no matter whom represents you [so why pay 10-12% of that to an attorney?]