A lot of individuals are involved in jobs that require the use of car while working. This means that they are at risk for having a job related automobile accident. If you sustain injuries in that accident and it is caused by somebody else’s fault, and along with a workers compensation claim you may also end up being entitled to a third-party liability claim. Keep in mind though that you are not allowed to sue a coworker or your employer for any job related injuries sustained in an accident.
After being involved in a work related automobile accident, make sure to follow the appropriate steps to file a workers compensation claim. Your employer needs to be notified in writing of the injuries from the accident, and then you need to go wherever your employer tells you to go for initial care of your injuries. This also involves filling out a claim for compensation that begins the claim process. Even if the accident was somebody else’s fault filling out this form and starting the workers compensation claim process will entitle you to immediate medical and compensation benefits available.
As you may already know, the liability claim involving the at fault insurance company may take years for resolution. You will need to finish treatment and achieve maximum medical improvement so that you can achieve the highest settlement possible. One piece of advice is that you should work with a personal injury attorney who is also familiar with the workers compensation system in your state.
If the attorney is knowledgeable in both personal injury law as well as workers compensation law, it may be possible in that state for the workers compensation insurer to pay medical bills rather than needing the settlement monies from the personal injury case to pay for those. This would essentially be money out of your pocket paying for your medical bills. Make sure to ask the personal-injury attorney whether or not you should be seeing a physician who is on your workers compensation provider list.
Keep in mind that if you have a workers compensation claim along with a personal injury lawsuit, the workers compensation carrier is legally entitled to share the money that you get from liability insurer. The term for this is a subrogation lien. Still though it is better for the injured individual to have both claims going. It is actually not unusual for an individual to have two attorneys, one working on each case. It would be better however if one attorney had experience in both to streamline things.