We provide free legal guidance and attorney referrals on Illinois workers’ compensation claims. We are lawyers who will give you the same guidance we would give to a friend who reached out for us to help.
Usually when someone calls me on a case where they already have an attorney, it is because the lawyer is not doing a good job for them. We will go over what has been done, what should be done and if it makes sense to stick with them or not.
I got that type of call recently and thought the lawyer was going to be a bad one because the first thing the injured worker said to me was:
Can I sue the insurance company?
That is the type of thing a good Illinois workers’ compensation attorney would go over with their client, so I thought it was another scenario where they had a bad one. Fortunately that was not the case.
The reason this worker wanted to sue the insurance company is because his benefits have been delayed. In his mind, there is no reason for the delay and the insurance company is just playing games. Sadly, that happens all of the time. It has been more than four months since he has received a TTD check and the surgery he needs has not been approved. You can get why he is angry.
The bad news is that you can not sue an insurance company in an Illinois workers’ compensation case. Bad faith laws do not apply there. That is because these cases are not lawsuits, but rather administrative claims for benefits. All disputes have to be resolved through the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission.
The good news is that if your work comp benefits are unreasonably denied, you can file for what is called “penalties and fees” at the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission. These penalties can be significant, including up to 50% for what medical care they are not providing and $10,000 for delayed TTD benefits. They also can get hit for your attorney fees over this.
In other words, you can not sue, but you can still penalize them and get compensation from them if they are acting in an unreasonable way. That means they have no basis for not paying your benefits.
Back to the lawyer. We searched and they had done everything correctly. They filed a petition for immediate hearing when the benefits were cut off. That forces the insurance company to respond as to why benefits are being denied. When they can not give a good reason, that is when the penalties and fees motion comes into play.
In fact, his lawyer had filed that motion. Normally a case like this would have gone to hearing by now. To do that, you usually need to take the deposition of your doctor before that happens. You would also need to take a deposition of the insurance company doctor if they sent you to one.
Unfortunately for this worker, his doctor only takes one deposition a week and the waiting time to get on the schedule can be six months. So his lawyer’s hands are tied. The deposition is scheduled so I told him that there would be no benefit in getting a new firm.
Illinois work comp laws generally favor the worker. Insurance companies can make the process difficult and that can be frustrating. The good news is that there are remedies to solve that frustration. Your job is to get a good attorney for your case or get a new one if they are not doing their job.
If you would like our help in finding a great Illinois workers’ compensation lawyer, please contact us any time for free at 312-346-5320.
