Do I really need a "lawyer"

[Timothy Belt]

Being a lawyer, I am of course biased in my opinion, but I would strongly suggest you obtain a lawyer as soon as possible. I would also suggest that you be very careful to get a lawyer experienced in workers' compensation law since it is very different from other forms of litigation. I can't speak for lawyers in your state, but I will monitor a case from start to finish to make sure the carrier is doing what they are supposed to do. If the case never gets involved in litigation over wage loss entitlement, I do not charge a fee. So, assuming your state is the same or similar, you can have the advantage of legal help without cost to you until the matter actually gets in litigation, and trust me when I tell you that when your case does get into litigation, you will be glad that you had the lawyer monitoring the file because it will greatly improve your likelihood of success.

[Pooh]

Sparkey

I agree it sounds like you will be better off at the new job.

What I meant when I said send a letter to them was to send a certified letter to the adjuster and NCM about contacting your new employer. After I moved and got a new job - my adjuster contacted my employer constantly and finally I ended up losing my job - they didn't say it was because of her calling - it was because I woke the chief up at 12:30 am for a possible armed robbery and the officer that just went off duty couldn't get there in time - the chief was the first in line to call - so I was "laid off" the next day and then fired during my UE hearing.

[pote2002]

Thanks for all your replies and advice! Maybe I should at least sit down with an attorney and tell him/her my story. Do you think they will be reluctant to “take on” my case, this late in the game?

[Still in Limbo]

Pote, as I said in my Post, now is the Perfect Time for them to be involved, right before the Surgery. After that is usually when the Games Begin, and your Attorney will be there to guide you through it! So Get BUSY and Find ONE!! (LOL)!

[sparkey]

Thank you newdriver. From the calculations i did it seems like alot of money involved. It was 137856. Hope i did that right as 137,000 seems like alot of money. My TTD payments are 359.00 a week. I did give my notice and not returning back to work as i posted in another area of this forum, my LD work was a half hour further, making it a total of 3 hours a day driving, working only 4 hours a day, 5 days a week. I told HR i would of gave a 2 weeks notice, but i am in pain and cannot do another day. We had a nice talk and she seemed very understanding. Could not blame me. She is contacting my NCM and telling her i quit and also have a new job starting in a few weeks.

I have been putting off on a lawyer, as my husband feels that if you get a lawyer involved it could take years to get a settlement and is a pain in the you know what. But the more i think about it, the more i feel i should have one to get what i rightly deserve no matter how long it takes. I have recurring carpal tunnel in my dominant hand, and the dr's all refuse ( 3 of them sofar) to redo the surgery. I am to live with it apparently the rest of my life. You said you had it before so you must understand the pain. I do have a hard time typing on here, but take breaks in between. I cannot constantly type or i feel it and end up with the TENS unit for 1 hour treatment if it gets to bad. I have to say i am thankful the IC bought that for me. It is a godsend! Thank you for the info. The info on NH workers comp you got on this site at the top? I have looked at that and alot of other sites, but seem to not get a clear picture of what they are saying. VERY confusing this w/c stuff. Gosh i wish i never had it sometimes. Thank you again for everyone's help.

[NewDriver]

Sparky, I just glanced back through my last post and realized that although I intended to post the web pointer I omitted it. Sorry. I have edited the other post to include the web pointer for NH WC. I will post it here as well:

http://www.labor.state.nh.us/workers_compensation.asp

Sparky you really do need to get a lawyer involved in your claim as you are doing some things outside the norm for most WC claims. Mainly changing employers. I would hate to see you get into a mess and need an attorney and then have to go scrambling around to find one at the last minute. Just be real careful in who you hire and for heavens sakes DO NOT call one of those big box outfits that advertise on TV. Just because they can hire some cheesy actor or actress to do a TV commercial it does not make them a good attorney. You need someone that specializes in WC law. One that is not afraid to take a case to trial and has a reference to cases they have tried in the past. An attorney that has never tired a WC case is just too soft, IMHO. If they have been in the practice of law for even a few years they would have tried a few cases not just settled them all.

I am not sure how you arrived at the $137K figure for PPD. If you had a 100% impairment rating assigned to your hand then you would be entitled to 128 weeks at your current TTD at $359/wk. So IF, (I say IF as most impairment ratings seldom allow 100% to the injured body part as they will automatically deduct some for the natural aging process if they can't find anything else to apportion it to), you actually got the 100% for your hand here is how you would figure it.

Weeks allowed for hand @100% 128 X $359.00, weekly TTD amount
= $45,952.00 Total TTD portion of lump sum settlement if 100% impairment to hand

So for a 100% impairment of one hand in the state of NH the PPD portion would be $45,952.00.

You will likely NOT have a 100% rating. Say for instance you were rated at 50% impairment to the hand then the PPD portion of your settlement would look like this

Total weeks allowed for hand 128 X 0.50 (50% impairment) = 64 X $359.00 = $22,976.00

So for a 50% impairment of one hand in the state of NH the PPD portion would be $22,976.00.

I can't see how you came up with the $137K figure using this example. This is the way it will be figured based on what ever rating you are given for your hand expressed as a percnetage. Do you have other injuries from the work injury to other body parts? Each body part should be rated separately and expressed individually and expressed as a Whole Body or Body as a Whole percentage. Have you been rated yet for your WC injury? The PPD rating should take into account each body part for the number of weeks scheduled as shown here from your NH web site:

http://gencourt.state.nh.us/rsa/html/XXI...1-A-32.htm

I hope this has helped clarify how you can figure your lump sum settlement in NH. Have a great day.

ND

[sparkey]

Whew i finally found this page again....lol i was trying to find this with the figureing and could not. I have reached MMI the other day and now the doctor is going to do the rating. From what i have been reading on alot of sites is they also take into account your age and occupation at the time of injury. I have been diagnosed with Upper Extremity neuropathy. It also includes my shoulder. I also read that if you are in chronic pain, which i go to pain management still, that there is a 3% allowance for that also. So i guess they would take the 128 for hand and maybe the shoulder would be included/age and occupation.

In any case, i am just glad that i will be compensated for something with all this pain and agony i have been induring these past 9 months, and loss of my career, also not to mention how it has taken a toll on my ADL's and my life of the things i enjoy like crocheting/motorcycling etc. Thank you for everything New driver and everyone else who has helped. I am just hopeing they do all this and there is no need to bring a lawyer in and hopefully no hearing i have to attend or court. I want to make this transition to my new job easy without missing time for all the court dates etc.