Q: Do I contact Disciplinary Board of Supreme court of PA, or Attorney General. Or both? Or who can review the work comp
I believe my lawyer, is settling for money, although the defendant denies I was hurt at work or they will /have paid any medical expenses. I have a clients information and a report filed on the date of my assault, their doctor wrote I could have received the chronic hematomo on that date. My lawyer made a statement they all know you were hurt at work, but then sent me a we never did prove you received it at work! He has led me to believe the defense is paying for the medicare, and yet expects me to sign a paper that allows defense to claim no liability. Sure they are going to give me X dollars. Which I then believe will be clawed back by my medicare, after my lawyer gets his 20 % of the total. I walk away with nothing, my employer denies it ever happened and I cant seek any medical expenses!(I have ongoing issues from the assault and my brain) When I ask this question, the lawyer pretends he has answered all my questions and I am expected to sing a C&R allowing them to say this did
A:
First, your lawyer cannot settle without your agreement, so if you want to take the risk that you may lose in taking your claim to decision, you do not have to settle.
Second, all terms of the settlement should be within the C & R agreement. Read it carefully. If it says that Medicare will be reimbursed, than Medicare will be reimbursed. If it has a dollar amount for future Medicare payments with an approved Medicare Set Aside (MSA) then that will also be funded through the agreement. Whether or not the employer specifically accepts liability does not really matter if the agreement indicates that they will make the payments. If you do not understand the agreement, you can take it to another attorney and have them explain it to you.
Finally, in regard to whether or not you can prove your case, no one here can answer that without reviewing the full record. However, the standard is not whether it could have happened at work, but rather whether it did happen at work. To establish that it did happen at work, in most cases you need a doctor willing to state, "within a reasonable degree of medical certainty", that it did in fact happen at work. Anyone that has been practicing workers' compensation for any period of time has come across medical providers who are unwilling to testify or that testify in a manner that does not meet the legal standard. I suspect from what your lawyer is telling you that is the case with your claim.
As to the disciplinary board, I have no reason to believe from your statement that your lawyer is doing anything wrong. They are providing you with their legal opinion. If you do not like their legal opinion, you are free to fire them and obtain another lawyer.
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