When to file your Missouri Workers’ Compensation Claim
INJURIES AND RECORDED STATEMENTS
If you are injured in an accident, on the road or at work an insurance company will probably call you and ask for a recorded statement. Do not give a recorded statement without legal representation.
An insurance company’s job is to minimize or defeat your claim from the moment they become aware of the claim. For instance, they want your recorded statement in a work injury to defeat your claim before you even started it and trough a technicality in the law, reporting requirements, and so forth. The insurer knows that it is no longer a compensable work comp claim if you are injured after parking on the employer’s lot and walking into work. If you have not thought about the claim, for instance, that you stopped off some place earlier for your boss and then parked your car, the claim will be not be compensable. Similarly, in a car accident case the adjuster is immediately trying to get details of what occurred. They may have the police report and the police officer’s view which may be different than your immediate recollection or may be wrong. In most of our car accident cases we do not allow a recorded statement for that reason. We would prefer to file a lawsuit and do depositions rather than risk an innocent error early in the case.
I am disappointed when I see attorney’s on television advertising that I have never seen in Court in over 17 years of practice. Some of the advertisements contain great advice, but as a practical matter you need a lawyer that is actually in Court fighting these cases on a daily basis. At Cantor & Burger, Mark Cantor and Gary Burger will personally represent you. If we decide to give a statement, we will be there with you. We will assist you every step of the way.
If you have a serious personal injury case, workers’ compensation matter or car accident or medical malpractice case, call us at 314-542-9999 so we can help.
Defamation
Mark Cantor successfully represented his client in a defamation case and secured a Judgment in the amount of $50,150.00 from a Court in Farmington, Missouri. The firm’s client is a medical provider in the St. Louis area. The Defendant, a detestable woman, sent text messages stating some patently false statements about our client intending to harm his good name and reputation. These statements were patently false and were designed to harm our physician’s good name, reputation and professional practice.
As a result, we filed a lawsuit and had the Defendant served. We then secured a Default Judgment which we will act upon to collect against her personal assets. Generally, Cantor & Burger seeks to collect money from insurance companies, but this is the rare exception where someone has acted so badly against a client that we will seek to collect her assets personally to punish her for knowingly spreading lies and attempting to harm our client’s good name.
Slander is when someone speaks untrue statements about you to a third party. If they write untrue statements, that is called liable. Defamation is the general idea about communicating false things about someone that damaged their reputation. Although traditionally we do not handle defamation cases, Cantor & Burger will make a case by case decision about these types of matters.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND CIVIL LAWSUITS
Sometimes a lawsuit is not enough and the defendant must be criminally prosecuted.
At Cantor & Burger we believe strongly in justice. Frequently, justice comes in the form of a financial resolution. However, in some instances, a lawsuit or financial penalty is simply insufficient. As a society, we use laws to correct behavior. In civil cases negligent behavior is corrected through a financial penalty, but in criminal cases, criminal behavior needs to be corrected through prison.
Cantor & Burger has represented many clients, two recently, where a client’s loved one was killed because of the negligence of another automobile driver. In those cases the families were rightfully very sad and very, very angry. We assisted the prosecution in the criminal matters by making witness impact statements, availing ourselves and our clients to the prosecutors as needed to build the criminal case, and appearing at hearings and trial of the criminal matter. Our clients in those last cases were very satisfied both with our representation in the civil case, and with our assistance in prosecuting the criminal matter.
The law should not be exclusively about money and at Cantor & Burger we understand that. We can help in every aspect of your litigation and provide confident legal counsel. Call us, we can help.
Mark Cantor’s Oral Argument Before the Labor & Industrial Relations Commission
Mark Cantor argued a case today before the Labor & Industrial Relations Commission in Jefferson City, Missouri. Our client was raped at work. The Employer/Insurer denied that our client was raped even though the offender had pled guilty to five counts of child molestation, sodomy and other heinous sexually deviant crimes. Despite the workers’ compensation insurer denial of benefits, while that case proceeded, Gary Burger secured a separate policy limits recovery for our client because of the rape. Mark Cantor then tried the case before the Division of Workers’ Compensation and won and the Employer appealed to the Labor & Industrial Relations Commission.
The oral arguments went well today for our firm. If we win, we will set a legal presadent on whether a pled rate of compensation is an issue of fact or of law. It is our position that if a Claimant pleads maximum rate for compensation, that is an issue of fact and not one of law. In this case that is important because the Employer failed file an answer to our claim for compensation. This failure was particularly tragic for them as they knew the case was pending, the paid us in the civil case, and they failed to act in the workers’ compensation case in a manner that would prevent the claim from being deemed admitted. Therefore, as a sanction the claim should be admitted and there is no legal issue for the Court to determine. Despite, our legal arguments, it is our genuine beliefs that our Claimant suffered very serious harm at work and needs to be compensated for her injuries and permanent partial disability.
We are hopeful that the Industrial Commission (which is comprised of three commissioners) will agree and will agree this should be the law in the state of Missouri.
Mark Cantor Secures Policy Limits And Is Now Pursuing Underinsured Coverage
Today at Cantor & Burger, Mark Cantor successfully resolved an automobile collision for the $50,000.00 policy limits. His client was rear ended and suffered a rotator cuff tear. We will now be pursuing underinsured motorist coverage.
At Cantor & Burger, we are experienced in maximizing our client’s recovery. This means not only collecting all the money from the insurance companies that are available, but also reducing the amounts of medical bills that must be paid to unpaid medical providers. To do so, we use the Missouri lien statute that says if a medical provider asserts a lien for medical care provided, the most their entitled to recover is ½ of the total amount after attorney’s fees and costs.
If there are many lien holders, for instance, and there is $200.00 after attorney’s fees and costs, but $1,000.00 worth of medical bills, each of the ten providers would only receive $10.00 to satisfy their total $1,000.00 bill. (Each provider receives their pro rata share of half the remaining balance.)
This is complicated, but our clients win more money by receiving the most money possible from the liable defendant and then paying out the least amount of money possible, which puts more money in their pocket. If we can help you, please call us today at 314-542-9999.
Mark Cantor Wins Hardship Hearing for Claimant in Workers’ Compensation
Mark Cantor won a workers’ compensation hardship hearing award for Reynaldo Dominguez that will provide our client weekly money to survive until the case is ready for a final conclusion. This is called a temporary award and is exactly what our client needed. Reynaldo was involved in a work accident where his fingers on his dominant hand were cut off. His Employer should have paid him for the time he missed from work because of his work injury. The Employer/Insurer stopped paying him benefits two years ago and after filing three hardships and requesting sanctions, the Court awarded $43,250.90 in past due benefits. The Court said, “Employer’s attorney did not address the requests regarding ongoing medication order by the doctor, or Claimant’s request for further psychiatric care.”
The Court stated that the “doctor reviewed the FCE results, provided Claimant a prescription for his gel gloves and gel finger sleeves to be replaced on a monthly basis, and he referred Claimant to a pain management clinic. No evidence was introduced demonstrating Employer ever acted upon doctor’s orders for pain management.” Furthermore, the Court noted that the “Employer did not address the doctor’s October 25, 2005 orders.”
The Court found that Reynaldo was not at maximum medical improvement and awarded Claimant past benefits from April 16, 2009 to the hearing date of January 26, 2012 and into the future until two authorized doctors find Claimant at maximum medical improvement. The Court awarded an additional two weeks of past owed benefits that were in dispute before the April 16, 2009 time period for a total award of $43,250.90 to be issued to the Claimant now.
The Court also awarded additional medical including prosthetics. The Court states, “I find Employer responsible to provide Claimant with additional treatment. I further find Employer is obligated to provide the following treatment with the following physicians. Employer shall immediately authorize the following.” The Court then listed doctors to provide treatment including a psychiatrist, pain management and prosthesis.
The Award came down March 15, 2012 after a hearing was heard on January 26, 2012. Although this fight is far from over, it is a great victory and will help Reynaldo.
AGGRESSIVE REPRESENTATION
At Cantor & Burger we aggressively represent our clients. It is our goal that when we enter our appearance on a case or send an adjuster a letter, or file a workers’ compensation claim that the other side immediately knows they have a fight on their hands and are going to lose. That means that if it is a civil case that we will file a lawsuit and proceed to trial. If it is a workers’ compensation claim, we will file the claim and proceed to a final hearing. We will not simply write letters, collect medical records, and wait for a low settlement. We push on our clients files from the moment we get them to the moment they are concluded in order to optimize the value of the case.
Unfortunately, we all know that there are many other lawyers that regularly settle their cases for little money. A reputation for weakness causes adjusters and other lawyers who defend those files to have no fear and results in not paying the obligations for which they owe. At our firm, we work hard to make sure that we strike fear in the opposition. This approach maximizes the value of our clients’ cases and allows us to sleep easy at night knowing that our clients have been treated fairly and well compensated for their injuries. If you need aggressive representation please call us at 314-542-9999 or contact us through this website.
We Do What It Takes To Win
On Sunday morning I drove to Troy, MO to meet a client with a severe injury. My client still works and was unavailable to meet during the week. If you need an attorney that is willing to do whatever it takes to win, contact us at 314-542-9999. We are experienced at what we do and can put the case in the best possible light for you. We never cheat to win, but we always fight to win and we can win your case for you.
