Legal Question in Workers Comp in Illinois

My than 19 year old daughter herniated a disk at her retail job. She was misdiagnosed (pulled muscle) for 4 months when she reported to her manager she was told no need to file a claim as it was a minor injury. When she was finally diagnosed she thought it was too late to file one. About 6 months later her condition got worse and she than went to her HR department and gave them a full history back to the start. She was told by her Manager to bascically "suck it up and stop complaining" so she hired counsel. Within 2 weeks she was terminated for "ringing up customers in a managment position" something all Managers had done. She was monitored secretly and initially given a stellar report but ultimatley fired for that monitor. Her attorney has had her case for 9 months and did speak to their attorney who claimed that they had medical reports showing that 2 months prior she had seen the Dr and they feel this is justification for not paying a work compl claim. We did tell the attorney that she had a kidney infection totally unrelated but she did not tell them that. The attorney has since stopped answering our attempts to contact her. 1) where does she go from here? Does she hire new counsel and is she required to pay this attorney? The attorney caused another 9 month delay in a claim that has now dragged out over a year and a half. 2) has it been too long? 3) I want to be clear that she is not looking for a big settlement as her attorney has asked she just would like on going medical care. She has been told she will need surgery and because of her injury can not work full time retail anymore so has gone back to school so she can seek a job where she can work without disturbing her back injury further. Does she have any optins?


Asked on 10/30/11, 10:57 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Nima Taradji Taradji Law Offices

Your daughter's attorney is in the unique position to answer all her questions. The best way to approach this is to contact the attorney's secretary and make an appointment to go see the attorney face to face. Have your questions written down and ask all the questions and ask follow up questions and ask enough questions to completely understand the status of the case. Listen to the answers carefully. The attorney is not your enemy--in fact he or she is the only friend your daughter has in this-no other person is there to help her but the attorney. If there have been delays, find out the reason(s) and find out what can be done about it and what the next move is. Then before you leave, make another appointment with the attorney for 90 days after-to go see him again to get status of the case again.

Most attorney/client issues arise from miss-communication between the attorney and his or her clients.

To answer your question: yes, you can change attorney at any time, however, you may have to pay the attorney for the costs incurred and the work done on the case so far.

I hope this helps-

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Answered on 10/30/11, 12:12 pm


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