A fairly common work injury scenario in Arkansas goes something like this: A middle-aged employee, with a history of heavy manual labor jobs, twists his knee at work. He’s never really had any knee problems to speak of before; or at least none that he knows about. The treating physician does surgery to fix torn cartilage, or maybe a torn ligament. The operation doesn’t work, and the doctor says that the claimant needs his knee replaced. The claim seems to be going great, right up until the doctor recommends the knee replacement. The insurance company then alleges that the surgery isn’t work-related.
Unfortunately, this happens to working Arkansans far too often. Knee replacements are expensive, involve substantial residual permanent impairment, and can make it so all or at least portions of an injured worker’s claim will remain open for life. Insurance companies know this, and routinely try to skirt paying a partial or total knee replacement claim by making the argument that the claimant had “chronic” or “degenerative” knee problems that were present before the work injury. While it is true that many knee claims we handle involve claimants who have chronic, preexisting knee problems they don’t necessarily know about, the fact remains that if a work injury is found to be even the slightest cause of the need for a knee replacement, the insurance company is probably going to have to pay for it. If you’re content, however, to blindly rely upon the insurance carrier’s kindness and good will in this regard, you may be out of luck.
Have knee injury questions? Feel free to give us a call anytime.
Neal L. Hart, Attorney at Law
Many Arkansans suffer burn injuries at work each year, and some of them are quite severe. The skin is our largest organ. When it is badly burned, the result is severe pain, a lengthy healing process, and often a high degree of permanent physical impairment. Because of this, work-related burn cases can be highly complex. The insurance carrier usually fights hard to end medical care in the claim as quickly as possible. Getting a proper permanent impairment rating from the treating physician (or from some other doctor), at the end of the case, is crucial to the monetary value of the claim. Unfortunately, many physicians either don’t want to do this, or don’t know how. At Hart Law we know how to handle burn injury cases to achieve maximum results. Let us help you get the benefits you deserve. Call today!
Neal L. Hart, Attorney at Law
Let’s face it, when you’re injured at work, the last thing you’re thinking about is how to navigate the Workers’ Compensation claims process. And who could blame you? All you know is that you’re hurting and you want to get better – so you can get bac
k to work. After all, there are bills to pay and mouths to feed.
But, in all honesty, figuring out how your Workers’ Comp injury translates into future medical expenses and possible job limitations should be at the top of your list. Because the longer you wait, the more uninformed decisions will be made that could jeopardize your Workers’ Compensation claim, your health and your future.
Here are the major steps to consider as you work to settle your Workers’ Compensation claim:
- Reach the end of your healing period.
- Make sure your employer has provided you with sufficient medical care.
- Verify that you’ve been paid benefits at the correct compensation rate.
- Assess the seriousness of your injury, most importantly, if you have a permanent impairment and permanent work restrictions.
- Determine if you have lost the ability to make your pre-injury wage.
- Decide if your injury will require training to perform a different job.
- Understand how much medical care you will need in the future and the cost associated with these healthcare services.
- Figure out how much all of this is worth under the Arkansas Workers’ Compensation Act and come up with a dollar figure reflecting that amount.
- Approach the insurance claims adjuster with a demand for settlement (this is often referred to as a “demand letter”).
- Convince the insurance claims adjuster – and likely their attorney – to agree to that settlement amount.
- Review and sign a lengthy set of settlement documents, prepared by the insurance company’s attorney(s).
- Go to court and ask an administrative law judge to agree to let you settle the case for the agreed upon amount.
If you have any questions about the Arkansas Worker’s Comp claims process, feel free to call us at 1-800-520-5874, or go hartlawfirmllp.com/#faqs. Helping injured workers is what we do. And even if we don’t represent you, we can help point you in the right direction.
Claims are often denied by insurance companies under the defense that an injured employee wasn’t actually working at the time the job injury occurred. Under our current law, however, injuries that may not seem particularly work-related at first glance may actually be viable workers’ compensation claims. For example, an injury occurring while an employee is using the restroom, eating lunch, or even on break might very well be deemed to be a compensable claim under our Workers’ Compensation Act. Our Employment Services Doctrine states that if an employee is performing services at the time of his accident that either directly or even indirectly benefit the employer in any way, that employee is technically “on the job” when the injury occurred. Some of these cases have to be tried in court; and some go all the way up to our Supreme Court, like this one, handled and won by Hart Law in 2006: https://opinions.aoc.arkansas.gov/weblink8/0/doc/273068/Page6.aspx
By: Neal L. Hart, Attorney at Law
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