Legal Question in Workers Comp in Florida

You sure know how to ask a tough question! Getting a good settlement from the workers' comp carrier depends on many factors not just which lawyer you hire. If you wait until you're completely finished seeing doctors and discharged back to work before hiring a lawyer, this will negatively affect your settlement in terms of how much money you get. The sooner you hire a lawyer, the better. If you plan on returning to work at the same job and it's a good job with good benefits AND your condition is practically all better and you're under 45 years old, I might advise you NOT to make a claim and not to get a settlement, assuming you can find work elsewhere if they terminated you in the future. As to which lawyer to hire if you have permanent impairment and cannot do the work you used to do, I would look to hire a lawyer who is board-certified in Workers' Compensation by the Florida Bar AND specializes in handling ONLY claimant cases, not the employer/carrier. Plus, you should hire someone that you feel comfortable with which might require that you speak to more than one lawyer. Every lawyer has a different style: some don't give much detail to their clients, and others, like me, spend too much time talking to their clients explaining the law, their strategy, etc. (at least that's what every one of my secretaries tells me!) Some TV lawyers are mere "brokers" who give the case to another lawyer to handle, some lawyers with small case loads are great and others are awful. I've represented injured workers for over 30 years and many came to see me after firing their previous lawyer because of various reasons: they didn't listen to them, they could never speak to him/her, the lawyer sent them to the deposition alone and didn't prepare them, the lawyer was never in to speak to them, etc. Start with the yellow pages under "Workers' Compensation" and ask to speak to the lawyer on the phone, not just the secretary/receptionist. If they won't call you back or speak to you on the phone, chances are you won't be speaking to them during your case. Sorry for the length of my reply, but you ask really tough questions! If you need anything else in the way of advice, feel free to email me, in confidence, at [email protected]. Good luck!

Robert Shapiro