By: Russell Keener  —  January 17, 2012
 

Recently I received a phone call from a fel­low named Luther.  Luther had a seri­ous low back injury and was ask­ing us to assist him with his Social Secu­rity Dis­abil­ity claim.  In the course of the phone call, I asked Luther how the injury occurred.  He explained he had been injured on the job.  I asked him had he received Geor­gia Work­ers’ Com­pen­sa­tion ben­e­fits.  He said he had received them for 15 months prior to set­tling his case.  I then asked him whether he was rep­re­sented by a lawyer.  He said since the insur­ance com­pany was “doing the right thing” he didn’t think he needed a lawyer.

I admit I was sur­prised to learn that Luther had agreed to set­tle his Geor­gia Work­ers’ Com­pen­sa­tion case for only $13,000.  $13,000! I thought, after lis­ten­ing the facts of his case, I knew it was a strong six fig­ure case.  The insur­ance com­pany had unfor­tu­nately taken advan­tage of this Luther.  They knew this was his first and only work­ers’ com­pen­sa­tion case and that he didn’t know the law.  Sure, he “looked the laws up on the inter­net;” but, unless you live and work in the Geor­gia Work­ers’ Com­pen­sa­tion sys­tem every day for a liv­ing, there is no way to fully appre­ci­ate how the laws are actu­ally applied.

After talk­ing with Luther a lit­tle more, it was clear to me that he had been ripped off by the insur­ance com­pany.     I asked him about his con­di­tion and he only had vague under­stand­ing about the sever­ity of his injury.  How­ever, he did know that the doc­tors wanted to per­form surgery and that he wanted the surgery.  He told me, he didn’t push the issue because “the insur­ance com­pany didn’t want to pay for it.” Didn’t want to pay for it?  How is that rel­e­vant I thought?  The sim­ple answer … it’s NOT.  They have to pay for what is nec­es­sary and caused by the job injury.

I asked Luther about his PPD rat­ing and whether his restric­tions were per­ma­nent and of the insur­ance com­pany had com­plied with the WC240 process as they wanted to put him back to a “light duty job”.  He truly had no idea.

Luther was the vic­tim of an unscrupu­lous insur­ance com­pany that took advan­tage of his lack of knowl­edge when set­tling his claim.    Luther thought the insur­ance com­pany was doing the right thing and that he didn’t need a Geor­gia Work­ers’ Com­pen­sa­tion lawyer.  Luther thought that since he wasn’t “hav­ing prob­lems” with the insur­ance com­pany, the insur­ance com­pany must be doing the “right thing.” (Never mind their clearly wrong­ful refusal to pay for the surgery this man needed.)

Insur­ance com­pany adjusters are loyal to their employer, the Geor­gia Work­ers’ Com­pen­sa­tion Insur­ance Com­pany, not you.  The adjusters do this every day for a liv­ing.  They have hun­dreds of lawyers help­ing them know and under­stand the law and help­ing them make sure they pay as lit­tle as pos­si­ble on a claim.

Luther said he hadn’t hired a lawyer because he didn’t want to get involved in a law­suit.  He said he wasn’t the “suing kind.”   He didn’t want to “sue” his employer, and I can appre­ci­ate that state­ment.  What Luther didn’t under­stand was that Geor­gia Work­ers Com­pen­sa­tion pro­ceed­ings are not the same as a con­ven­tional “law­suit.”  Geor­gia Work­ers’ Com­pen­sa­tion is han­dled through what is known as an admin­is­tra­tive pro­ceed­ing.   Whether Luther had a lawyer or not, the claim is filed the same way.   Not as a “law­suit,” but as an admin­is­tra­tive pro­ceed­ing with the Geor­gia State Board of Work­ers’ Com­pen­sa­tion.

As a Geor­gia Work­ers’ Com­pen­sa­tion lawyer with more than 20 years expe­ri­ence, Mr. Rus­sell Keener is well versed with the Geor­gia Work­ers’ Com­pen­sa­tion law and will help you receive the full value of your case.   The Keener Law Firm of Mari­etta is not look­ing to take advan­tage of the sys­tem.  We have no inter­est in doing any­thing under­handed, sneaky or tricky.   Through our years of expe­ri­ence The Keener Law Firm will help injured Geor­gia Work­ers fully under­stand and appre­ci­ate the grav­ity of their injury and under­stand how the injured Geor­gia worker is pro­tected by Geor­gia Work­ers’  Com­pen­sa­tion law.  The lawyer for the Geor­gia Work­ers’ Com­pen­sa­tion insur­ance com­pany and the adjuster for the Geor­gia Work­ers’ Com­pen­sa­tion insur­ance com­pany will never tell you all you need to know.  Why would they?  It’s to their advan­tage to keep you in the dark.  Even going so far as telling the injured worker “you don’t need a lawyer, they will just take your money.

The Geor­gia Work­ers’ Com­pen­sa­tion insur­ance com­pany will treat you (as the say­ing goes) “like a mush­room”.  That means they will keep you in the dark and feed you manure.  Don’t be left in the dark about your Geor­gia Work­ers’ Com­pen­sa­tion claim.  Call a rep­utable Geor­gia lawyer spe­cial­iz­ing in Geor­gia Work­ers’ Com­pen­sa­tion Claims.

Had Luther got­ten a com­pe­tent lawyer to help him, he would have got­ten the surgery he needed and put far more money in his pocket than he did on his own.

Mr. Keener has helped injured work­ers in Geor­gia for over 20 years.  You deserve the best.  For a free, pri­vate case eval­u­a­tion, call attor­ney Rus­sell Keener at the Keener law Firm at 770–955-3000.

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