Why You Need an Alabama Workers Compensation Attorney III

Every day in Alabama, a worker suffers some type of job injury; while most of the incidents are minor in nature and require only one or two visits to the workers’ compensation physician, it is not always easy to tell whether an injury is merely a sprained muscle or something which will require surgery. What you do immediately following any job injury could have long lasting results on you and any potential workers’ compensation claim. With this in mind, in the next few blogs, we will be discussing why you may need an Alabama Workers’ Compensation Attorney, if for no other reason than to ask questions, after you have suffered a job injury.

Reason three-THE “PREEXISTING CONDITION” RUSE: I could not count the number of times I have had a client come in who was injured at work, but was informed that workers’ comp was refusing to accept liability because 20 years earlier the worker had hurt the same body part while playing High School baseball (I was actually told this by an adjuster) or in an automobile accident. The workers’ comp adjuster claims that the injured workers’ disability is due to the workers’ pre-existing condition and therefore not covered under Alabama’s Workers’ Compensation Laws. This defense rarely works.

In Alabama, if a worker has a pre-existing condition which has not stopped them from being able to adequately perform their job duties, the law views the condition as being irrelevant. If you can do your job duties and a job accident worsens an underlying condition, then workers’ compensation has to pick up liability for the worsened condition. This is because under Alabama’s Workers’ Comp Statute, a job injury does not have to be the sole, or even the main cause of an injured workers’ disability; the job injury just has to be a contributing factor in the disability. Thus, if a work injury combines with or aggravates a pre-existing condition (which has not prevented the worker from performing their job duties in a normal manner) to cause a disability or death, then the workers’ compensation insurance carrier is liable for said disability/death.

I have had actual discussions with insurance adjusters in which the adjuster was attempting to explain that my client’s leg injury was really related to the fracture they suffered playing Pee-Wee football and not due to the fall from a roof top they suffered at work. If you hear this “defense” from an adjuster, you are most likely being given the run around and it is time to get a lawyer. If you have been told that liability for your work injury was being denied due to a pre-existing, don’t hesitate to contact and speak with one of the experienced Alabama Workers’ Compensation Attorneys at Powell and Denny today .

Powell and Denny: We Work When You Can’t

Offices in Birmingham, AL and Huntsville, AL

 

Powell and Denny have been selected as one of the Best Law Firms in America by U.S. News and World Report for each of the last 5 years, selected as one of Birmingham’s Top Lawyers by B-Metro Magazine for the last 3 years and the law firm of Powell and Denny, P.C. has been selected by The National Advocates as one of the Top 20 Workers’ Compensation Firms (plaintiffs).

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Why You May Need an Alabama Workers Comp Attorney