(Transcript)

Bill Adler: Hello everybody and welcome to Hammer TV. I’m Bill Adler, the Texas hammer.

Jim Adler: I’m Jim Adler, the Texas hammer.

Bill Adler: Today, we’re going to talk about work injuries and third party claims. Jim, would you explain a third party claim or on the job accident and what they are like?

Jim Adler: Well, what happens is you’re working, you’re at the job site and you’re working for company A. All of a sudden someone working for company B injures you. So you have a case within a case. You have your workers’ compensation case against your employer, and the case within the case is against what we call the third party or company B. What are some of the work injuries that happen, Bill?

Bill Adler: Well, work injuries which happened, they often occur on construction sites, refineries, building construction sites. There can be individuals who are operating cranes, delivery trucks and other types of vehicles which cause injuries to you while you’re on the job. Some of the biggest mistakes people make in third party workers’ comp claims are not going to the doctors. What are some other things you see Jim in third party worker comp claims?

Jim Adler: Well, you can have a workers’ compensation claim. If you do, if your employer has workers’ compensation coverage, you need to file a notice of injury and claim for compensation and you need to report the injury to your employer. If you don’t, you might not be able to get your weekly benefits or your medical treatment. For example, let’s say you’re on the job and you’re working construction. You work for a carpentry company and someone working for a welding company accidentally dropped something on you or hurt you, or you’re working at a refinery for company A and some guy working for another company doing a turnaround at a refinery causes you to become injured. Again, you have the case within the case.

Jim Adler: Let me talk to you about your big case and your little case. Your little case is your workers’ compensation case, your injury on the job case. All you’re going to get are weekly benefits and medical benefits. But you’re not going to be compensated for what you would get in the big case. The big case is your third party case against someone who’s not your employer, a third party truck driver, a third party construction worker. Your big case is for your loss wages, all your injuries, past, present, and future, past, present and pain and suffering, scarring, disfigurement, loss of enjoyment of life, 30 big, big elements of damages that you’re entitled to be paid by the insurance company for the third party company that hurts you, that made you become injured.

Jim Adler: Lots of times your employer didn’t do anything wrong and you can go after the third party that hurts you. So always remember there’s a big case and then there’s a little case. What happens if you don’t report your accident?

Bill Adler:  Well, the company may deny that the accident even happened. Also, one time I had a client who was working on the job site and he was injured by another individual. He had just started working for the company and he thought, “Well, if I report this accident to my employer, I’m probably going to get fired.” Guess what? He reported it, doing the right thing and everything went well. He wasn’t fired. He did the right thing. He got medical treatment. He also got workers’ compensation benefits such as indemnification, partial pay while was out treating for his injuries, trying to get better and get back on his feet. I just talked about indemnification. Jim, can you talk a little bit more about indemnification and what it is?

Jim Adler: Well, indemnification is when you get your weekly benefit checks and it’s based on a calculation of what your hourly wage is and your average wage throughout the year. How can a lawyer help, Bill?

Bill Adler: Well, with indemnification, like Jim said, you’re only getting partial pay. Also, you’re going to workers’ comp doctors, but you’re leaving on the table the pain and the suffering you’re going through through that entire time. So we can come in and help you with your pain and suffering and your claim against the other party while you’re treating and recovering and then after you return to work so you can get money for what you’ve missed out on. So if you’ve been involved in a workers’ comp claim or you’ve been injured on the job, one and the same, typically you can call us and you need to call us. The number you want to call is 800-567-7575.

Bill Adler: You can also contact us on the web. The website you want to go to is www.jimadler.com. Well, thank you everybody for joining and watching Hammer TV. We love your comments, your questions, and we’re looking for new topics to discuss on the show. So if you have a new topic, we’d love to hear from you. Also, we want you to share this video with your friends, your family, your loved ones who may need our help. That would mean a great deal to Jim and I. This is Bill Adler.

https://www.jimadler.com/work-injury-lawyer/