Largo Workers’ Compensation Lawyer
All too often, workers suffer injuries and illnesses while they are at their jobs. Construction workers and builders on Largo development projects, including apartment complexes, high-rises, and condominiums, are especially susceptible to suffering work site injuries, given their proximity to dangerous machinery and heavy equipment. However, office workers may suffer equally debilitating injuries in an accident at their workplace, such as a slip and fall or another premises accident.
If you suffered an injury or illness at work, you should take legal action right away. Waiting too long to seek medical treatment or retain experienced legal counsel to represent you may jeopardize your right to recover the workers’ compensation benefits and third-party damages you deserve.
Helping Injured Workers in Largo, Florida, Recover the Workers’ Compensation Benefits They Need and Deserve
If you are eligible to pursue legal action, our team can file a claim with the appropriate insurance company on your behalf and handle all written and verbal communications for you. We can then help you pursue – and maximize – the monetary benefits and damages you deserve to recover for your work site injury.
Our skilled legal team has a strong track record of success in maximizing workers’ compensation benefits and third-party monetary damages for injured workers.
Some of our successful results include:
- $4.7 million for paralysis injuries
- $2.4 million for a spinal injury
- $1.4 million for back injuries
- $800,000 for various fall-related injuries
- $768,700 for back injuries and a later amputation
- $500,000 for lower back injuries requiring surgery
Let us help you recover the compensation you deserve for your workplace injury or illness right away. For a free case evaluation and legal consultation with an experienced Largo workers’ compensation lawyer, please reach out today for more information.
What Are Some Common Occupational Injuries and Illnesses That Workers Suffer While on the Job?
The potential injuries or illnesses that a worker may suffer on the job depend significantly on the workplace setting and the type of accident or occurrence.
Some of the most common injuries that workers may suffer at a job site or office include:
- Traumatic head and brain injuries, such as a concussion
- Spinal cord and paralysis injuries, especially where a worker falls to the ground and lands on their head, neck, or back
- Broken bones (including fractured shoulder bones and hip bones)
- Rib fractures
- Soft tissue injuries, including whiplash injuries in a work-related motor vehicle crash
- Crush injuries, where a heavy piece of machinery or equipment runs a worker over
- Open lacerations
- Internal organ damage
In addition to these injuries, some accident victims may suffer illnesses and other adverse medical conditions due to an accident on the job. Those medical conditions may include:
- Influenza
- Breathing difficulties
- Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), such as from repetitive bodily movements, like typing
- Medical complications that result from prolonged asbestos exposure
While some of these medical conditions might appear right away, others may take a significant number of weeks or months to develop. However, just because a particular medical condition develops over time does not mean you are ineligible to recover monetary benefits through the Florida workers’ compensation system.
If you suffered any of these injuries or illnesses in a recent workplace accident, you should seek the medical treatment you need right away. Otherwise, if you later go to file a workers’ compensation claim for benefits, the insurance company may become skeptical of your injuries. In fact, they may believe that because you delayed medical treatment, your injuries are not severe and do not warrant fair monetary compensation as part of your workers’ compensation claim for benefits.
Under ordinary circumstances, since your employer is responsible for paying your medical bills if you suffer an on-the-job illness or injury in Florida, your employer’s insurer typically decides which medical provider(s) will treat you for your injuries.
While you undergo the medical treatment you need after your workplace injusy, the experienced Largo workers’ compensation attorneys at Feldman Law can start assembling your claim by gathering appropriate documentation to submit to the insurance company. That documentation may include copies of police reports or incident reports, photographs of the incident scene, pictures of your visible injuries, and medical documentation to date.
Once you have completed your medical treatment, we can present these documents to your employer’s insurance company and begin pursuing the workers’ compensation benefits you deserve for your work site injury or illness.
Qualifying for Workers’ Compensation Benefits in Largo
Workers’ compensation benefits in Florida are no-fault benefits. Therefore, an injured worker may be eligible to receive these benefits without regard to how their workplace incident occurred or who caused it. However, causation does become a significant factor in third-party claims that arise from workplace accidents.
To be eligible for workers’ compensation benefits, an individual must ordinarily have suffered an injury, illness, or other adverse medical condition while at work and while they acted within the scope of their employment. For a worker to be acting within the scope of their employment, they must ordinarily be performing a job duty or function when the injury or illness materializes or develops.
Moreover, workers’ compensation benefits are typically only available to employees, not independent contractors. In some cases, an individual may not know whether they fit the employee or independent contractor designation.
Typically, an employee has less control over their hours and job duties, and they receive a Form W-2 at year’s end. In contrast, an independent contractor usually has more flexibility in terms of their work hours, work duties, and payment schedule. Moreover, companies typically do not exercise as much control over independent contractors as they do employees. Unlike employees, an independent contractor typically receives a Form-1099 at year’s end rather than a W-2 form.
The experienced Largo workers’ compensation attorneys at Feldman Law can help you determine if you are eligible to recover workers’ compensation benefits in your case. If you are, we can assist you with filing your claim and dealing with insurance company representatives. We can also review all of your legal options with you and begin pursuing the benefits you deserve to recover by law.
Potential Monetary Benefits in Largo Workers’ Compensation Cases
Workers in Florida who suffer an injury or illness while at their job may be eligible to receive various workers’ compensation benefits. Since every workplace accident scenario is different, and different workers suffer different medical complications, not all workers will be eligible to receive the same types and amounts of monetary benefits.
Typical benefits that affected workers may include:
- Medical benefits, to compensate injured or ill workers for all of their related medical treatment
- Vocational rehabilitation benefits, if a worker is unable to complete their job duties or continue in the same line of work due to the injuries they suffered in their workplace accident
- A portion of the accident victim’s lost income
- Permanency benefits, including Permanent Partial Disability (PPD) Benefits, if a medical provider determines – based upon a reasonable degree of medical probability – that the worker suffered a permanent injury or illness while on the job that is unlikely to get better with the passage of time
To be eligible for permanency benefits, an injured worker must ordinarily submit to one or more permanency evaluations by a medical provider. The doctor will typically establish a permanency rating in terms of a percentage.
When an injured worker’s attorney and the employer’s insurance company cannot agree on a permanent impairment percentage, they may need to take the case to a hearing to resolve the matter. At other times, the employer’s insurance company may place a lump sum settlement offer on the table, which the injured worker has the option to accept or reject.
These settlements are typically full and final settlements, and if the injured worker accepts the offer, the workers’ compensation case will close. Therefore, if the injured worker’s injury or illness becomes worse and they require additional medical treatment, they will have to pay for that treatment on their own.
In addition to permanent benefits, if your loved one died in a workplace accident, you may be eligible to receive death benefits to compensate you for funeral expenses and other related losses.
Our experienced legal team can help you decide whether you should take your case to a hearing or accept an offer to resolve your workers’ compensation claim. We can also help you determine whether you are eligible to file a third-party claim against an at-fault individual or entity based on your accident circumstances.
Third-party Claims and Lawsuits That Arise From Workplace Accidents
Potentially responsible third parties may include:
- Contractors and supervisors on a construction site
- A negligent motor vehicle operator who caused an accident that resulted in severe or permanent physical injuries
- A product manufacturer or distributor whose negligence caused a piece of equipment to malfunction at a job site, resulting in worker injuries
Our legal team can help you determine if you can file a third-party claim against an at-fault party and can help you prove the legal elements of your claim.
To recover monetary damages in a third-party claim or lawsuit, you, as the accident victim, have the sole legal burden of proof. The at-fault individual or entity, on the other hand, does not need to establish any legal burden. First, you must demonstrate that the other party owed you a legal duty of care and that they subsequently violated this legal duty in some way. You must also show that this violation caused the subject accident and you suffered one or more physical injuries as a direct result of the occurrence.
To prove these legal elements, it may become necessary for your attorney to introduce medical testimony, such as from a treating doctor or other healthcare provider. Our legal team can help you take the necessary actions to prove the legal elements of your third-party claim or lawsuit. We can also help you negotiate with the responsible party’s insurance company or threaten them with litigation in the court system if they refuse to compensate you appropriately for your injuries.
Available Third-party Damages in a Personal Injury Claim or Lawsuit
As part of a third-party personal injury claim or lawsuit, accident victims may be eligible to recover various damages in addition to the benefits they already recovered through their workers’ compensation claim. However, a third-party insurance company may be inclined to lowball their offer if you already received significant compensation through the workers’ compensation system.
Potential monetary damages you can recover through a third-party claim or lawsuit include compensation for:
- Anticipated medical costs, as determined by a qualified medical provider
- Future lost earnings
- Past and future pain and suffering
- Emotional anguish
- Loss of life enjoyment
- Loss of spousal companionship
- Loss of the ability to use a body part
- Permanent disability or disfigurement
Our experienced legal team can help you maximize your monetary damages in a third-party claim through settlement or litigation.
Call an Experienced Largo Workers’ Compensation Lawyer Right Away
If you suffered an injury or illness in a recent workplace occurrence, time is of the essence. You should speak with experienced legal counsel at Feldman Law right away to take the necessary actions on your behalf and safeguard your right to recover the monetary compensation you deserve. Our legal team can assist you with every step of your workers’ compensation claim or third-party claim and work to maximize the total damages you recover in your case.
For a free case evaluation and legal consultation with an experienced Largo workers’ compensation attorney, please contact us at (877) FELDMAN or contact us online today.