TL;DR If you’re injured at work, workers’ compensation may provide medical care and partial wage replacement without requiring you to prove fault. But workers’ comp generally doesn’t cover damages such as pain and suffering. If someone other than your employer (such as another contractor, a negligent driver, a property owner, or a defective-product manufacturer) caused […]
Summary: Yes, you may be able to pursue both a workers’ compensation claim and a personal injury lawsuit after the same accident. If someone outside your employer caused your workplace injury through negligence, you may have additional options for compensation beyond workers’ compensation benefits. Key Takeaways: Can You Have Both a Workers’ Compensation Claim and […]
As a personal injury lawyer in Kansas handling workplace injury cases, one of the first questions I often get is “Do I need a lawyer?” Therefore, I decided to write this blog to share my thoughts on the topic and help people who have had an accident at work decide whether they need a lawyer. […]
What Is Workers’ Compensation? As personal injury lawyers in the Kansas City area, we get a lot of calls about potential workers’ compensation cases. These cases stem from injuries you get on-the-job, and generally require that some kind of work activity caused your injury. They are a unique type of case in that you don’t […]
A recent article in the Kansas City Star tells the story of how an undocumented worker from Nicaragua fell to his death at an office building being converted into apartments. The worker, whose name was not released, appears to have fallen 14 floors down an elevator shaft. As a personal injury lawyer handling catastrophic injury cases, this incident reminded me of […]
I saw a news flash recently from the Missouri Department of Transportation that this week is Work Zone Awareness Week. According to their website, “National Work Zone Awareness Week (NWZAW) is an annual spring campaign held at the start of construction season to encourage safe driving through highway work zones.” In making their announcement, MoDOT gave a sobering […]
In any personal injury case against a corporation, the biggest battle is always during the discovery phase. Discovery happens after a lawsuit is filed. It is the means by which the parties get evidence from the opposing party. There are many methods of discovery, including written questions called interrogatories, requests for production, and depositions. Corporations are notoriously […]
As Kansas City personal injury lawyers who have been practicing for many years, we have seen a lot of corporations make bad decisions. Sometimes these decisions cause injury or death. Every time these decisions have been made because of money. Unfortunately, the vast majority of corporate decisions are based on money. Almost universally they make […]
Last week week was National Work Zone Awareness Week. According to its website, “National Work Zone Awareness Week (NWZAW) is an annual spring campaign held at the start of construction season [that] encourages safe driving through highway work zones. The key message is for drivers to use extra caution in work zones.” Work zone crashes […]
In the event of breaking rules or doing something wrong that leads to hurting someone, the person at fault will have to make up for the harm they cause. You break it, you buy it. But when you break someone’s body and cause them physical injury, the problems that come with that can be lifelong. […]
Trench Collapses and Personal Injury Cases The Kansas City Star published an article today about the dangers of trench collapses in construction sites. The article had a sobering statistic that, “More than two dozen construction workers died this year when they were buried under tons of earth in trenches that had no shoring to keep fragile […]
PAY ATTENTION IN WORK ZONES OR PAY THE PRICE March 23, 2015 marks the beginning of the 2015 National Work Zone Awareness week, and the Missouri Department of Transportation is reminding drivers to slow down and pay attention in work zones. MoDOT notes that not all work zones are alike, so vehicles must make sure […]
Workers’ compensation claims can be drawn out and complicated, especially when parties fight over the percentage of disability. When an attorney files frivolous lawsuits and refuses to work toward settling workers’ compensation cases, the state of Missouri has provisions that allow the courts to grant both attorney’s fees and the whole cost of the proceeding. […]
Generally speaking, when you get hurt at work, you’re only choice is to file a workers’ compensation claim. The law forbids cases against your employer for negligently causing you injuries. The upside of this is that you do not need to prove your employer did anything wrong in order to make a recovery. You need only show […]
#1: REPORT AN INJURY OR ILLNESS TO YOUR EMPLOYER IMMEDIATELY After sustaining an injury on the job or coming down with an occupational illness during the scope of your employment, it is imperative that you notify your employer immediately. In the state of Missouri, all injured workers are given a maximum of 30 days to […]
In most workers’ compensation cases and in some personal injury cases, injured plaintiffs will undergo independent medical evaluations to determine various issues, including the extent of the injuries, the cause of the injuries, and what kind of medical care is needed. If you have a workers’ compensation or personal injury case and are asked to undergo a […]
There is a law within Missouri’s workers’ compensation statutes that gives employees a penalty in their comp claim if they failed to use a required safety device. The law says that if you are injured at work in Missouri, then you will receive between twenty five and fifty percent less compensation in your workers’ compensation claim. For […]
Settling a workers’ compensation claim is unlike settling a personal injury case like a car accident or slip or trip and fall in many ways. Although both generally consist of an agreement by the insurance company to pay the claimant compensation in exchange for the injured person dropping their claim, the are practical differences. The biggest difference is that […]
If you are hurt at work in Missouri and you have a major injury, you may be a candidate for a permanent total disability award in your Missouri workers’ compensation claim. Missouri’s comp system provides benefits for the degree of impairment you have after an injury. Sometimes, no matter how much medical care you get […]
A common question I hear in my Missouri workers’ compensation cases is whether my client’s employer can force him or her to take vacation or sick time when out of work because of a work comp injury. All too often, an employer will force a client to use up this time after an injury. Then, the client’s […]
Not wearing a seatbelt is surprisingly common. When you are in a car accident in Kansas City as a result of someone else’s fault, but you are not wearing a seatbelt, there will be legal consequences on your civil or workers’ compensation case, in addition to physical consequences as well. The physical consequences are much more serious […]
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