The Law Offices of Barry G. Doyle, P.C.

Chicago Illinois Accident Lawyers

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When Someone Else Is to Blame For Your Accident ….

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Sometimes, drivers get hurt and there is someone else to blame for the accident.  What happens then?

When you get hurt on the job, you are entitled to get worker’s comp benefits.  These are paid by your employer or their insurance company regardless of who is at fault.  The nice part about worker’s comp benefits is that they are (at least in theory) paid automatically, and allow you to keep food on the table and get access to quality medical care while you are off work.

The basic trade off for getting worker’s comp benefits is that you are not allowed to sue your employer or a co-worker if they are at fault for the accident where you were hurt.

However, that is not true when someone who is not yourself, your employer, or a co-worker is to blame for the accident. In that case you can pursue both a civil lawsuit AND a worker’s comp claim.  You don’t have to choose.

You can actually recover many of the same kinds of things in a civil lawsuit that you get get as worker’s comp benefits (such as medical expenses), but those do not have to be paid out by the defendant in a civil lawsuit until the end of the case.  In the meantime, your employer must continue to pay those benefits when they are due.  However, you do not get to collect those benefits twice.  You must pay those back to your employer at the end of the case.

Any case where there is both a worker’s comp case and a liability case is a complex kind of case where you you greatly benefit from getting the help of a well-qualified lawyer.

If you have a current worker’s compensation issue which you need help on, please feel free to reach out to our office by calling us at 312-263-1080 to discuss your issues and what options you have.  There is no obligation to hire our law firm, and there is no charge for the call.

I hope this has been helpful, and if you know anyone who can benefit from this kind of information, please feel free to share this information.

We are here to help truck drivers after an on-the-job accident.  Knowledge is power, and the first step in protecting your rights is to know what they are.

Stay safe!

Were You the Victim of a Crime While Working?

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Crime is everywhere, and as a truck driver, you are exposed to it in a way that many other types of people are not as they go about their daily work.  So what happens if you are a victim of a crime while working?

The surprising answer to this is that not all crime victims are allowed to receive worker’s compensation benefits when they are injured as a result of being a victim of a crime.  And because there is some potential that the insurance company can get away with denying your claim all together, there is a reasonable chance that they will try to do just that.

The key thing that the courts look to in deciding whether a crime victim can get worker’s compensation benefits is whether the activity the injured worker was engaged in at the time of the accident exposed him to the criminal activity and was providing some benefit to the employer.

If you are driving a load and get robbed because someone wants what is in the trailer – probably covered.

Get mugged in a parking lot while going from a restaurant to a motel – probably not.

The line between what is a covered incident and what is not is a murky one, which is why you need good legal help if you are a victim of a crime while on the job and want to get worker’s compensation benefits. 

One other point:  we don’t talk much about “emotional distress” on the context of worker’s compensation claims, but you can seek compensation for emotional distress.  They are always difficult claims, but this is one place where it is a bit more credible claim.  Our office once helped get a substantial settlement for a woman who was a cashier at Wendy’s who suffered post-traumatic stress disorder after being held up at gunpoint.  There are more than just physical injuries for crime victims ….

If you have a current worker’s compensation issue which you need help on, please feel free to reach out to our office by calling us at 312-263-1080 to discuss your issues and what options you have.  There is no obligation to hire our law firm, and there is no charge for the call.

I hope this has been helpful, and if you know anyone who can benefit from this kind of information, please feel free to share this.

We are here to help truck drivers after an on-the-job accident.  Knowledge is power, and the first step in protecting your rights is to know what they are.

Stay safe!

Got Beat Up By a Co-Worker? Some Surprising Answers ….

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I’d like to think that we leave fistfights behind us on the playground, preferably sometime around junior high age.  But stuff happens ….

What happens if you get hurt getting into a fistfight with a co-worker at work?

First, win or lose, you are going to be at risk of losing your job.  Most companies don’t have any patience for that in the workplace, and even if you get hurt, they are not likely to keep you around, and there isn’t much about a worker’s compensation case that will change that in your favor.

So, let’s assume for a minute that you get into a fight and get hurt to the point that you need medical care and/or have to miss work.  Does the company have to pay you worker’s compensation benefits?

The key language in the Worker’s Compensation Act is that the company is required to pay benefits for “accidental injuries” that “arise out of and in the course of” your employment.  Both of these are problems from the standpoint of getting paid benefits if you end up getting hurt in a fight with co-workers.

The first thing that must happen for your fight to be covered is that it has to start with a work-related issue.  You get into an argument about work that spins out of control, etc.  If it is a fight that starts because of an argument over sports, politics, women, music, or anything else, you probably won’t be covered.

The other thing is that the injury must be considered “accidental” which means that you have to make a choice – are you going to say that the injury was accidental or intentional?  You need to pick – the fancy term for it in the law is “election of remedies,” and there are consequences to the choice you make.

If you say that it was accidental, you may be covered by worker’s comp – but the trade-off for getting worker’s comp benefits is that you can’t sue the guy who you got into the fight with.  Why?  Because worker’s comp is the exclusive remedy for work-related injuries.

If you say it was intentional, it is no longer an accidental injury, and there is no worker’s comp benefits.  That also means that you can sue the pants off the guy that you got into a fight with.  The problem with that will always be collecting the judgment because insurance policies won’t cover intentional acts.

The choice is yours ….

If you have a current worker’s compensation issue which you need help on, please feel free to reach out to our office by calling us at 312-263-1080 to discuss your issues and what options you have.  There is no obligation to hire our law firm, and there is no charge for the call.

I hope this has been helpful, and if you know anyone who can benefit from this kind of information, please feel free to share this.

We are here to help truck drivers after an on-the-job accident.  Knowledge is power, and the first step in protecting your rights is to know what they are.

Stay safe!

On-the-Job Heart Attacks

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Having a heart attack is one of the scariest experiences anyone can have – and it is probably worse for truck drivers who are often far from home and carrying an expensive load he has been entrusted with. 

So, what happens if you have a heart attack on the job?  Does the company have to pay you worker’s comp?

The key part of understanding the answer to that comes from the Worker’s Compensation Act.  It requires employers to pay the compensation due under the statute for injuries “arising out of and in the course of” your employment.

Having a heart attack on the job may satisfy the “in the course of” requirement, but what about the other part – arising out of?

This is where many heart attack cases fall short.  The conditions that cause a heart attack usually have been building up over years and years and the fact that they happened at work may just be a question of random chance.  In that case, the “arising out of” requirement isn’t met and there is no case.

There are some unusual circumstances where you may be able to satisfy the “arising out of” requirement such as when there was something specific that happened at work that triggered the heart attack – but those are rare, rare cases indeed.

If you know someone who suffered a heart attack while working there are two pieces of advice I would give them:

1.      These are difficult, difficult cases to win, and you shouldn’t make plans around winning a heart attack worker’s compensation case because it doesn’t happen often.

2.     The only way that you are going to win a heart attack worker’s compensation case is if you get high-quality legal help.  These are cases that will be contested from the word “go”.

If you have a current worker’s compensation issue which you need help on, please feel free to reach out to our office by calling us at 312-263-1080 to discuss your issues and what options you have.  There is no obligation to hire our law firm, and there is no charge for the call.

I hope this has been helpful, and if you know anyone who can benefit from this kind of information, please feel free to share this.

We are here to help truck drivers after an on-the-job accident.  Knowledge is power, and the first step in protecting your rights is to know what they are.

Stay safe!

Truck Drivers and Occupational Accident Insurance

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There is a lot of confusion about owner-operators and worker’s compensation insurance.  We are going to try to straighten it out in this week’s Tip of the Week ….

When owner-operator’s sign on with a company, they sign an agreement which states that they are independent contractors and that they agree to carry insurance which covers them in the event of an on-the-job injury. 

To live up to that end of the bargain, they usually get a type of insurance which is called Occupational Accident Insurance or Occupational Disability Insurance, and both the driver and the company treat this as being “worker’s comp.” 

It isn’t.

Some of these insurance policies do provide good coverage for the driver in the event of an on-the-job injury.  Others are hardly worth the paper they are printed on.  Whether it is a good policy or not, an occupational disability policy is not the same as worker’s comp coverage.

The law in Illinois leaves open the possibility that an owner-operator will be treated as an employee for worker’s comp purposes even when he signed an “independent contractor” agreement.  The idea is that the work the owner-operator does is at the heart of the business of a trucking company and the company exercises control over the work of the driver (including assuring compliance with DOT regs).  When that happens, an owner-operator may be considered an employee of the trucking company and therefore eligible to get worker’s compensation benefits. 

A worker’s compensation insurance policy is different from an occupational accident policy in that it covers the trucking company, not the driver, and must cover the benefits required by the Worker’s Compensation Act.  The trucking company must be the one to carry the insurance, not the driver. 

The two aren’t the same, even though many owner-operators and companies proceed as if they are.  If you are an owner-operator who has questions about your rights after an on-the-job accident and the relationship between the two kinds of insurance, feel free to contact our office.

If you have a current worker’s compensation issue which you need help on, please feel free to reach out to our office by calling us at 312-263-1080 to discuss your issues and what options you have.  There is no obligation to hire our law firm, and there is no charge for the call.

I hope this has been helpful, and if you know anyone who can benefit from this kind of information, please feel free to share this.

We are here to help truck drivers after an on-the-job accident.  Knowledge is power, and the first step in protecting your rights is to know what they are. 

Stay safe!

Injured by defective equipment? This is what you need to know ….

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There are all kinds of ways that things can wrong that can result in you getting hurt on the job.  One of them is having to work with a piece of dangerous or defective equipment.

First, at least in Illinois, having to work with a dangerous or defective piece of equipment does not change the extent to which your employer will have to pay worker’s compensation benefits.  That is part of the trade-off for worker’s cop being a no-fault system.  With anything short of attempted murder, all you get is worker’s compensation benefits.

Now, if there is someone else who may be blame for your injury, you may have the basis of a civil case.  There are a couple of different scenarios where you may look elsewhere besides your employer: 

  • Improper repairs – if there is equipment which has been repaired and the repairs are defective or fail to hold in a way that indicates that the repairs were not done properly and the repairs were done by an outside company, this can be the basis of a civil lawsuit against the person or company that did the repairs
  • Product defect cases – if there was a defect in the manufacture of a product such that the product failed or if there was a danger in the design in the product, this can be the basis of a civil lawsuit against the product manufacturer.

With either of these kinds of cases, they are complex, expensive kinds of cases to pursue so should only be investigated for drivers who are very seriously injured.

One thing that you should be sure to do when you are involved in that kind of accident is to save the remains of the equipment – do not throw it away or repair it.  It is critical evidence for the civil case and losing it or otherwise destroying it can result in the later dismissal of your civil case.

If there is a basis for a civil lawsuit, you do not have to choose between a civil lawsuit and a worker’s compensation case – you do have the option of pursuing both.  However, you should be aware that the interaction between the civil lawsuit and the worker’s compensation case is complex and is the kind of thing that you should be getting help from a well-qualified lawyer for.

If you have a current worker’s compensation issue which you need help on, please feel free to reach out to our office by calling us at 312-263-1080 to discuss your issues and what options you have.  There is no obligation to hire our law firm, and there is no charge for the call.

I hope this has been helpful, and if you know anyone who can benefit from this kind of information, please feel free to share this.

We are here to help truck drivers after an on-the-job accident.  Knowledge is power, and the first step in protecting your rights is to know what they are.

Stay safe!

Parking lot injuries and worker’s compensation

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Many times, truck lots are hazards unto themselves – littered with potholes, cracked concrete, poor to nonexistent removal of snow and ice … the list goes on.

So what happens when you park your rig in a lot, and are on your way to your car and you trip and fall and hurt yourself?

Without sounding too much like a lawyer – it depends.  If the lot you were in was provided by your employer or you were required to park your rig there, there is at least a reasonable chance that you would be covered by worker’s comp, even though you were done with your trip and were on your way home.

Parking lot injuries are one place where the line between “on-the-job” and “off-the-job” is none too clear, so getting legal advice about injuries that occur in a parking lot after you are done with your trip is going to be key to determining whether you have any ability to receive worker’s compensation benefits.

Not getting the right kind of help can cost you  thousands of dollars in benefits and access to quality medical care.

If you have a current worker’s compensation issue which you need help on, please feel free to reach out to our office by calling us at 312-263-1080.  One of the attorneys in our office will be in touch with you as soon possible to discuss your issues and what options you have.  There is no obligation to hire our law firm, and there is no charge for the call.

I hope this has been helpful, and if you know anyone who can benefit from this kind of information, please feel free to share this.

We are here to help truck drivers after an on-the-job accident.  Knowledge is power, and the first step in protecting your rights is to know what they are.

Stay safe!

What happens if you get hurt first day on the job?

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You are covered by worker’s compensation the first day that you are on the job.  It isn’t like health insurance, where you need to be with the company for a certain period before you are covered.

If you get hurt on the job your first day, you are still going to be covered.

That doesn’t mean that you won’t have a LOT of problems with your case.   

Unless you suffer a really obvious injury (like a broken bone) in an accident which is witnessed by a number of other people, there will be a lot of speculation that you showed up the first day of work already hurt and that you are just trying to take advantage of worker’s comp.  The overwhelming likelihood is that your case will be sent to the special investigations (aka the fraud) unit and you will have to fight for everything. 

The other issue that you will likely have is that because you do not have an earnings history with the company, determining your Average Weekly Wage will be more difficult.  Since this is the key number in your case for your weekly disability checks and for how your settlement is computed, this is an important issue.

Both of these issues say that if you get hurt on the job right after starting with a company, the best bet for you is to hire a well-qualified worker’s compensation lawyer.

If you have a current worker’s compensation issue which you need help on, please feel free to reach out to our office by calling our office at 312-263-1080 to discuss your issues and what options you have.  There is no obligation to hire our law firm, and there is no charge for the call.

I hope this has been helpful, and if you know anyone who can benefit from this kind of information, please feel free to share this information.

We are here to help truck drivers after an on-the-job accident.  Knowledge is power, and the first step in protecting your rights is to know what they are.

Stay safe!

Injuries happening during hours of service breaks

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The DOT hours of service regulations are the bane of just about every trucker and trucking company.  How often have you been 2 hours from home and were forced to take your off-duty time when you could have just finished the trip and gotten home. 

The mandatory hours of rest routinely puts drivers on the sidelines when they are away from home and by law, are not supposed to be working.  What happens when you get hurt during your mandated rest period?  You aren’t working – you can’t be.

The law in Illinois treats drivers who are away from home during their mandated rest periods just like any other employee who has to travel for work.  That means as long as you are hurt doing something that is foreseeable while you are traveling, you should be covered by worker’s compensation.

What does that mean for truck drivers in particular?  It means that if you are doing anything that is consistent with getting your mandated rest hours in, you should be covered, even if you weren’t working and even if what caused your injury wasn’t particularly related to your job as a truck driver.

This little tidbit should be considered in tandem with the fact that you can file case in the Illinois worker’s compensation system for accidents that happened outside Illinois if your principal place of employment is in Illinois or if the contract for hire was formed in Illinois.  The off-the-clock overage may not be as extensive in other states as it is in Illinois, so you may have more options than you ever thought ….

If you have a current worker’s compensation issue which you need help on, please feel free to reach out to our office by calling us at 312-263-1080 to discuss your issues and what options you have.  There is no obligation to hire our law firm, and there is no charge for the call.

I hope this has been helpful, and if you know anyone who can benefit from this kind of information, please feel free to share this information.

We are here to help truck drivers after an on-the-job accident.  Knowledge is power, and the first step in protecting your rights is to know what they are.

Stay safe!

They Fired Me! Now What Happens to My Worker’s Comp Case?

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Sometimes after an on-the-job injury, the injured driver finds himself out of a job … and in a scary place indeed.

Losing a job is never a good thing, and is doubly scary when you have been hurt, but there are some things working in your favor.

First, it is illegal to fire an employee for asserting his rights under the Worker’s Compensation Act.  If there is some reason to believe that you were fired for making a worker’s compensation claim, you should get a lawyer immediately.

I am not naïve and would never tell you that this just doesn’t happen, but most often employers are advised to be very careful about how they handle people who are off on worker’s comp because there is mot much that an employer can’t do their employees in Illinois, but firing them for making a comp claim is on that list.

Let’s assume for a minute that it was a legitimate firing for whatever reason … what does that do to you regarding your worker’s compensation case?

Your rights to get worker’s compensation benefits comes from the fact that you were hurt while working, not from your ongoing employment.  This means that you are allowed to continue to get your weekly disability payments while you are off work, your employer is obligated to continue to pay for your medical expenses, and you can get a settlement at the end of your case.

However, once you are cleared to go back to work on unrestricted duty and are considered at maximum medical improvement, there is no longer any responsibility to provide  you with ongoing benefits, such as your disability checks and payment of your medical expenses. 

Which brings me to my next point …. because you are already on the “outs” with your employer (they have fired you, after all) and the exposure to ongoing benefits is cut off once you are cleared to go back to work, you can expect that they will be more aggressive than usual about forcing you back to work before you really ready … and you still don’t have a job to go back to.

If you are in this situation, it is a good idea to get help from a lawyer right away because at some point, the insurance company will likely try to cut off your benefits … and you won’t have another source of income and that can bring the wolf to the door very quickly indeed.

If you have a current worker’s compensation issue which you need help on, please feel free to reach out to our office by calling our office at 312-263-1080 discuss your issues and what options you have.  There is no obligation to hire our law firm, and there is no charge for the call.

I hope this has been helpful, and if you know anyone who can benefit from this kind of information, please feel free to share this information.

We are here to help truck drivers after an on-the-job accident.  Knowledge is power, and the first step in protecting your rights is to know what they are.

Stay safe!

Why the Company is Probably Wrong When They Tell Owner-Operators They Can’t Get Worker’s Comp …

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One thing we hear frequently from owner-operators after they are hurt on the job is that they are denying coverage because they are “independent contractors” and therefore can’t get benefits after an on-the-job injury.  Only part of that is true …

In order to get worker’s compensation benefits, there must be an employer-employee relationship.  And owner-operators sign independent contractor agreements with their carrier, so on the surface it would make sense that an owner-operator cannot get worker’s compensation benefits.  However, that is not always true.

The Illinois Supreme issued a ruling a number of years ago that stated that even where there is an “independent contractor” agreement between the owner-operator and the company, it would look to the substance of the relationship to decide whether the injured driver was covered by worker’s compensation.  If the company exercised control over the work done by the driver and the work being done by the driver was at the heart of what the company does, then the driver could be considered an employee.

This is where having your case handled right comes in: it all depends on the proof that you provide on those two points.  If you provide the right proof, you can receive thousands of dollars in disability benefits and have access to quality medical care.  Fail to put in the right proof …. and you are on your own. 

That is why you should be getting a well-qualified worker’s compensation lawyer to assist you with your case.

If you have a worker’ compensation case that you would like assistance with please call our office at 312-263-1080 to discuss this further.  There is no charge for the call and you are not obligated to hire us if you do call.

Stay safe!

Where to File Your Worker’s Comp Case? You May Have More Choices Than You Think!

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One thing that injured drivers often assume is that they can only file cases in Illinois if they were actually hurt in Illinois … and that would be true, but only partially true.

The Worker’s Compensation Act allows workers who were injured inside the State of Illinois to file cases here, but it also allows injured workers to file cases here in two other situations where the actual injury occurred in another state. One is when the contract for hire was formed in the State of Illinois.  The other is when the principal place of employment is in the State of Illinois.

What this means is that you can file a case under the Illinois Worker’s Compensation system when you were hurt in another state if (1) you were hired in Illinois or (2) your home terminal is in the State of Illinois.

Why does this make a difference?  Worker’s compensation is covered by state law, and while the worker’s compensation systems are often similar state to state, there can differences in state laws which have a huge impact on the amount of money you receive and in your ability to control your own medical care.  In some situations, it can change whether or not you are eligible for worker’s compensation at all.

Why is this a big deal for truck drivers?  The nature of being a truck driver means that you are often traveling to other states, and even if you get hurt elsewhere, you may be able to file a case in Illinois and receive benefits where pursuing a case in the state where you were actually injured may change the outcome of your case completely.

One of the services we provide for drivers who were injured elsewhere or who have the option of pursuing a case elsewhere is an analysis of which state would be the best, given the issues in your case.

We hope this Tip has been helpful information.  If you suffered an on-the-job injury and would like to learn more about what your options are, please complete this form  [link to intake form], and we will be in touch with you promptly.  Please feel free to share this Tip with anyone who you think would benefit from this.  We strongly believe that knowledge is power, and the more information someone has about the rights and options after an on-the-job injury, the better things will be for them.

The Law Officecs of Barry G. Doyle, P.C.

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