Costa Mesa Worker's Compensation Lawyer
Free Case Consultation!
The stress of suffering a job-related injury or developing an occupational illness is unique. While enduring physical harm is always challenging, distinct kinds of pressure and anxiety tend to arise in the wake of work-related injury and illness. Any injury or illness may compel an individual to take time off of work to recuperate. However, when the condition that causes missed work is work-related, the stress to return to one’s job can overwhelm all attempts to heal in peace. When an injury and an individual’s livelihood are linked, the aftermath of sustaining that injury can feel more stressful than managing the injury itself.
Members of our firm’s legal team have served as passionate advocates for the rights of Southern California workers for years. As a result, we are keenly aware of how challenging it can be to navigate the legal, financial, and practical consequences of sustaining a work-related injury. We respect the challenges that our clients face. This understanding and respect help to fuel our client-focused approach to delivering positive case results as efficiently and effectively as possible. Our team represents our clients’ interests tenaciously so that they can regain well-founded confidence in the future. In short, we work hard so that our clients can heal and move forward with dignity, professional opportunity, and access to the maximum amount of compensation available under the circumstances.
Client-Focused Legal Representation for Injured and Ill Workers
Our firm chooses to offer objective case evaluations, at no cost, to all injured workers. Why? We sincerely believe that workers deserve to understand their rights under the law and that their financial situation shouldn’t factor into their ability to seek legal guidance accordingly. If you are hesitant to meet with an attorney because you have concerns about employer retaliation, please know that the consultation process is completely confidential. Similarly, you should not hesitate to seek legal guidance if you are an undocumented worker. California law provides broad protections and opportunities for injury-related compensation for documented and undocumented workers alike. There is nothing standing in your way from understanding your rights, save for an investment of an hour or two of your time.
During your consultation, we will ask you questions about your employment situation and the circumstances that led to the harm you’ve suffered. Once we better understand the challenges you’re facing, we’ll provide you with an objective evaluation of both your rights and your legal options. Our job is not to “sell” our services. Our job is to explain the ways in which the law protects you and to clarify your options. Should you choose to take action, we will provide you with dedicated, comprehensive legal support. However, attending a free consultation won’t obligate you to work with our firm. The pressure-free decision of how to move forward will, unquestionably, remain entirely up to you.
No-Fault Workers’ Compensation Benefits
When individuals are injured while engaging in work-related activities, they usually have one or two primary avenues to pursue when seeking compensation. The first avenue, which is available to most workers in California and throughout the United States, is workers’ compensation benefits.
This avenue is more straightforward than the alternative due to two distinct factors. First, workers’ compensation is a no-fault system. This means that, with a few exceptions, eligible workers remain entitled to receive benefits if they suffer physical harm while engaging in work-related activities regardless of the circumstances that lead to that harm. Meaning, that unless they are high, drunk, instigating an altercation, or are trying to hurt themselves at the time that they are injured or become ill, they remain eligible to receive a workers’ compensation benefits award even if they cause the injurious circumstances that lead to their harm.
Second, there are strict eligibility criteria that govern the workers’ compensation system, which makes it easier to determine whether a worker’s claim will be approved or not. Workers are almost always covered by workers’ compensation insurance if they are classified as either full-time or part-time employees of the businesses and organizations that they work for. Workers’ compensation benefits are not generally made available to independent contractors, workers employed at especially small companies, and workers operating within certain specialty industries, such as the railroad and much of the maritime industry.
As a result of the no-fault structure of the workers’ compensation system and the strict eligibility criteria that it employs, it is usually easy to determine whether your workers’ compensation claim will be approved successfully. With that said, it remains important to work with an experienced attorney when applying for benefits in order to better ensure that your claim will be fairly valued, paid in a timely manner, and not rejected as a result of technical application errors.
Personal Injury Actions – Fault Matters
The second kind of compensation that is available to many injured workers may be secured by filing a personal injury lawsuit. This opportunity, along with insurance settlements which our team can negotiate on your behalf, is your best bet to secure injury-related compensation if you work as an independent contractor or are otherwise exempt from workers’ compensation coverage.
Unlike the workers’ compensation claims process, determining fault is central to the pursuit of a successful personal injury case. Therefore, if you were solely to blame for the cause of your injuries, you won’t be in a position to file a successful claim. However, it is rare that when injuries happen on the job that workers are completely at fault for the harm that they’ve suffered. Far more often than not, unsafe working conditions, faulty equipment, and other potentially hazardous factors serve as catalysts for injurious circumstances.
In order to determine whether you have grounds to pursue a potentially successful personal injury case, we’ll need to answer three questions:
01
Did an individual, employer, equipment manufacturer, motorist, or other party owe you a duty of care under the law?
02
Did that party violate the duty of care owed to you by engaging in conduct that is legally considered to be negligent, reckless, or intentionally dangerous?
03
Did that negligent, intentionally dangerous, or reckless conduct serve as a substantial factor in the direct cause(s) of your injuries?
Each of these questions must be answered affirmatively for a successful personal injury case to be filed. It’s okay if you are unsure of whether the circumstances surrounding your work-related harm meet these criteria. When you attend your free consultation, our team will assess your situation and advise you of the relative weaknesses and strengths of your case accordingly.
When It’s Appropriate to Pursue Both Legal Options
It is sometimes possible for employees who are eligible for workers’ compensation benefits to simultaneously pursue a benefits claim and a personal injury lawsuit successfully. However, there are legal limitations placed on employees who are eligible for workers’ comp that are not placed on other workers seeking compensation via the personal injury claims process.
Employers required by law to maintain adequate workers’ compensation coverage for their employees pay premiums for this insurance regardless of how diligent they are about keeping their workplaces safe. As a “trade-off” for paying these premiums upfront, employers are granted limited liability protection in the personal injury sphere of the law. Essentially, because employers pay for workers’ no-fault compensation coverage, they are insulated from the risk that their workers will sue them if those workers are hurt or made ill on the job. As a result, you may sue third parties other than your employer if you’re hurt while engaging in job-related activities. However, you won’t be able to sue your employer for any role it may have played in the causation of your harm. Therefore, you’ll only want to pursue a workers’ comp claim and a personal injury lawsuit simultaneously if a third party (other than your employer) behaved in ways that meet the criteria outlined above.
Are You Struggling with Repetitive Trauma, Occupational Illness, or Aggravation of a Preexisting Condition?
Both workers’ compensation benefits and the opportunity to pursue damages via the personal injury claims process may be available to you regardless of how you sustained work-related harm. However, some cases are easier to prove than others. For example, when workers are injured as a result of onsite accidents and those accidents are witnessed by others, it can be difficult for a workers’ compensation insurance claims adjuster or a jury in a personal injury case to deny (at least one) cause of a victim’s injuries. By contrast, when a worker becomes ill as a result of their working conditions, aggravates a preexisting medical condition on the job, or sustains a repetitive stress injury, claims adjusters and juries may be led to believe that lifestyle choices and alternative non-work factors caused the harm in question.
It is for this reason that it is particularly important that you seek legal guidance if you’re interested in pursuing compensation under any of these potentially complex circumstances. Additionally, you will want to be extra careful when posting on social media until your case has been resolved. Insurance claims adjusters and opposing counsel may try to access your social media activity in an effort to determine whether you’re exaggerating about your medical condition or lying about it outright. Even an innocuous post of you playing with a family pet may be used as evidence that you aren’t as sick or as injured as you claim to be. Allow us to help you prove that your harm is rooted in your work-related activities so that you can successfully pursue any compensation to which you are rightfully entitled.
Addressing Concerns About Retaliation
If you are hesitating to connect with our firm because you have concerns about
employer retaliation, please call us today to schedule a free, no-risk consultation today anyway. Why? Our consultation process is completely confidential. Unless you choose to report your injuries and/or pursue legal action, your employer will never know that you spoke with our team. If you choose to exercise your legal options, know that any retaliatory behavior on your employer’s part is unlawful and that we will do our utmost to protect your rights accordingly.
Contact Our Firm Today for a Free Case Evaluation
Whether you are a documented or undocumented worker, a remote or in-person employee, whether you travel for work or you never leave your desk, you deserve to understand your rights under the law in the event that you have suffered harm while on the job. Please act quickly to schedule your free case evaluation with our trusted legal team, as California workers’ compensation law may bar you from seeking benefits if you don’t take certain steps within 30 days of sustaining harm or learning that the harm you’re suffering from is work-related. We look forward to learning about your unique situation and to assisting you with your legal needs at this time.