Being sued for W/C by nonemployee

[ceb58]

The justice system isn't interested in justice. Fairness, equiality and equity don't factor in to it.

All that matters are two things: 1. the case is disposed of and 2. the ruling can withstand an appeal.

The thing is 480 is right about a screwed up attitude to these claims. The lawyers and judges do not have to carry the burden of the high cost of wc. Just dispose of the problem by throwing other peoples money at it. I have seen cases where I know beyond a shadow of a doubt the person was faking the injury and all they had to do was sit back and collect the money. I have a second cousin that was working construction and a wall that had just been stood up fell hitting him in the back of the neck. He is now forever paralyzed from the waste down. He is 22 years old. If it was not for fund raisers and family he would not have half of the things the insurance company promised to supply for him so he could recover and regroup to get on with his life in a wheel chair.

 

[svh19044]

My girlfriend is a manager at a major workmen's comp insurer and I have to listen to these damn stories every day!

Don't worry about it. The first action of a w/c claim is to deny, as nearly 90% are fraudulent. If he hasn't showed up to court, YOUR attorney shouldn't have a problem overturning this.

When it comes to insurance, the insurer does NOT want to pay. The "defendant" does NOT want to pay. That's two parties against one. The settlement usually turns out to be very low, or the majority, none at all. Don't stress over it though, and if you have any questions, please PM me and I'll get you answer to direct questions. You might even be working with the same company that I am getting answers from.

 

[growler]

Anyway the W/C attorney is telling me that my employee could have hired him to help him right off of the street and that makes him an employee of mine. Then he is telling me this happens all of the time and employeers try to say he did not work for me.

Folks I'm not saying that jonesjax is guility or responsible for anything.
who knows where the guy got his company name.

With the amount of casual labor being used on construction sites these days incidents like this are bound to happen. Contractors pick day laborers up in front of the 7-11 and at the Home Depot parking lot every day. I've seen a contractor give day laborers a little cash to unload sheet rock and carry it to the basement without a care. No one really keeps up with this type of casual labor ( not that I have seen ). You can go through a temp. agency a get casual labor and have all of this taken care off but that's not what happens.

It is possible that someone gave this laborer a few bucks to help load tools or clean up the job site. He may not have even really known who he was working for ( $50 load the truck and sweep, OK Jose). I have seen contractors with a whole truck load of casual laborer, do you really think they even know the names of everyone on the truck.

The only way to put an end to this sort of thing is to stop the use of casual labor. Contractors should either use their own or rented employees with proper records kept for each employee.

Workmans Comp. doesn't work well with the cash and honor system. People just don't turn in the amount of casual labor used. There are no real records.

 

[sparky 134]

My brother had an employee who claimed he injured his back. This guy was up on the roof pulling up some wire that was tied onto a rope. Two guys were below pushing. The rope came off the wire so they pulled the wire back out of the pipe, send the rope back down, retied it and finished pulling the wire.

The next day he claims he fell on the roof when the rope slipped off. Never mentioned it the day it allegedly happened.

Within 3 weeks he had his attorney filing for permanent disability. Said he could never work again.

My brother fought this w/c claim for two years. Eventually the w/c carrier offered the man 20K, he pays his own medical bills and is no longer an employee of the company. He said he wanted 100K. The judge suggested he take the 20K. He refused and the case was thrown out.

He had to take care of his own medical bills and find another job. Rumor on the street he was in financial trouble over some boutique his wife owned.

That was a happy day for me !!!

 

[petersonra]

There was a somewhat famous case in Illinois some time ago where a state employee had a heart attack at a cubs game. he filed for w/c and eventually won on the grounds that the game was a job function because he was there with several other people from the office where he worked and the state had given them the tickets for free as some kind of reward for some meritorious behavior.

The place I worked while going to school was a security guard/detective agency. They had a state contract to investigate some w/c cases for the state. One investigation was of a guy who was supposedly 100% disabled. Our investigator got many hours of film (way before video was common) of the guy playing tennis, biking and jogging. A hearing revoked his disability, but he got it back on appeal I think.

A few years back there was a news story about a group of "disabled" cook county (Chicago) employees who went to work for the city of Chicago. They never told cook county they were working so kept getting their disability from the county and a paycheck from the city. Amazingly, they all soon had on the job injuries and went on disability with the city as well, so ended up getting two disability checks. They were only discovered by accident.

 

[petersonra]

The first action of a w/c claim is to deny, as nearly 90% are fraudulent.

Its not anywhere near that bad. My guess it that it is perhaps 30%. There is a whole industry of shady lawyers and medical practitioners making a lot of money off of it.

 

[Pullnwire]

Reminds me of a time when a Constable showed up looking for an "employee" I never heard of. Never had a garnishment come through (yet) for someone that didn't work here like you did. I think I'd just ignore it if I did.

Constable... is that a policeman with a funny hat?

 

[petersonra]

Constable... is that a policeman with a funny hat?

in many states it is (typically) a private detective who is authorized by the state to serve summonses and such.

 

[e57]

The world is filled with people who make money by sueing other people at whim... Often what they are looking for is a settlement out of court - and 80% of the time that is exactly what they get - often with no proof of injury, fault or foul at all!

Former employer of mine got hit with a WC claim by an idiot on one of my jobs that I ran for him. A few days after he claimed he could not work and filed his claim - he was dumb enough to brag about it to other employees after they saw him in his brother-in-laws truck and working for him.... I guess conscience, loyalty or the fact that the settlement would have come out of profit-sharing came down to a pretty good case against him - and he too did not show up on the 4 occasions he was summoned to appear....

A while back I was reading some rag in that a "Lawyer" was making millions suing restaurants right out of the phone book for not having up to date ADA in the toilets and entrance - he would send his gimps often after he had already filed a claim - and he bragged about this as most would just settle with no question - but he only needed the gimp to actually go to the place only if there was a suit to proove "Injury". The reporter who wrote it noted that he never had any of his "CLIENTS" meet him at his home/office as it too was not ADA compliant....

IMO fight him tooth and nail - what do you have to loose - money you'll loose to lawyers anyway?

 

[LarryFine]

Constable... is that a policeman with a funny hat?

No, it's a nickname for a prison.

 

[cschmid]

win, lose or draw you lose..it is cash out your pocket, your rates go up..no matter the outcome you now have a opportunity to grow or go out of business..you can be sued for any thing by anyone..it really sucks..I know my attorney by first name..sucks when I have to write him paychecks..

 

[tlaidman]

I had a new employee (3 weeks) file a claim that he fell off a ladder on a thursday. and was injured and could not walk. After checking I decided I was going to fight the claim. I showed up at the w/c hearing with an affidavit from another employee stating that he played 18 holes of golf with him on Saturday after the accident. When the hearing started his attorney requested that the claim be withdrawn. they did not expect me to show up. The attorney for the state said they had five othe bogus claims from him. So it is not unusual for false claims to be filed. End of story.

 

[Mr. Bill]

Has anyone checked his legal history? As some have noted many of these people do this repeatedly. How many previous employers in that State has he filed WC claims against. If he previously swore that he was injured and could never work again then what was he doing working for you. He either committed perjury before stating that he couldn't work, or he's committing perjury now stating that he worked for you.

 

[powerslave]

There was a somewhat famous case in Illinois some time ago where a state employee had a heart attack at a cubs game. he filed for w/c and eventually won on the grounds that the game was a job function because he was there with several other people from the office where he worked and the state had given them the tickets for free as some kind of reward for some meritorious behavior.

The place I worked while going to school was a security guard/detective agency. They had a state contract to investigate some w/c cases for the state. One investigation was of a guy who was supposedly 100% disabled. Our investigator got many hours of film (way before video was common) of the guy playing tennis, biking and jogging. A hearing revoked his disability, but he got it back on appeal I think.

A few years back there was a news story about a group of "disabled" cook county (Chicago) employees who went to work for the city of Chicago. They never told cook county they were working so kept getting their disability from the county and a paycheck from the city. Amazingly, they all soon had on the job injuries and went on disability with the city as well, so ended up getting two disability checks. They were only discovered by accident.

I'm sure these can't be true. Things of this sort just don't happen in Illinois, Cook County or the City of Chicago.:roll:

 

[jonesjax]

No Magic

No Magic

There is nothing else to the story the employee that worked for me is not in town he is being hunted down for child support. O.K. here is another twist any new hires have to be reported to the state under illegal aliens act in Fl it is also being used for dead beat dad's. Also if I hired someone I have to have him sign IRS papers w-4 I think. Now i got a letter from my magic attorney saying three women are seeking child support from this guy. The total is about 8k he has also been arrested for assualt and battery twice this year on the same girlfriend and is in the FDLE data base.

I had workers comp and liability insurance so I was covered, I thought I told the attorney I would never sign anything admitting guilt, I got hurt at work very badly back in 1990 and would never deny a employee any benefits but I will be dammed if I am going to give some low life anything, he beats up on women has multiple children he does not support. My attorney was suppose to ask for the case to be removed I dont know what happened to that....

 

[Skyline Electric]

A while back I was reading some rag in that a "Lawyer" was making millions suing restaurants right out of the phone book for not having up to date ADA in the toilets and entrance

This is called the 17200 Scam

 

[blueheels2]

I was injured when a crane fell onto a building I was working in. I had persistent neck pain and migraine headaches for a year all caused by the accident. I was given a 3% disability rating on my neck. However, I only got about 6 grand from w/c. I also sued the crane company and got 25000 which I had to pay my lawyer and the 6000 back. I think I actually got about 14000 when all was said and done. You can disagree with me if you want but I feel I should have gotten more. I worked many a day in that year with a migraine all day long. I had to work in order to support my family. It makes me ill that the w/c company and the crane company did not want to give me anything and the reason is you've got theses bozos who are not hurt filing false claims making it difficult for the ones who are hurt to get what they need.

 

[DanZ]

I just don't see how are justice system can be so messed up at times:-?

It's those 12 people in that little sectioned off space in the court room. I believe they're called jury.

A friend of mine has a wife who was on a jury years ago, where someone was suing a dead person, claiming they owed them money. There was no proof, but the jury wanted someone to have some money, because there was an estate involved.:roll:

 

[Buck Parrish]

theses bozos who are not hurt filing false claims making it difficult for the ones who are hurt to get what they need.

Dittos that !
But that may have not been an accident, Blueheels in raleigh? Come on man.