Q: Work accident led to toe damage due to insurance delay. Do I have a case?
I was involved in a work accident on 11/15/2024, which resulted in extensive damage to my 4th toe on my left foot, including nerve damage, debridement, and a permanently shorter toe. Despite filing a workers' compensation claim, I believe the insurance company is at fault for delaying my hyperbaric treatment by over a month. I have documentation from my doctor indicating that the delay caused further damage due to lack of blood flow, and my doctor contacted the insurance adjuster twice about this. Do I have a case for action against the insurance company?
A:
The delay in treatment may, possibly, be insurance bad faith and a claim would be outside the work injury case. The WC claim will compensate you for damage to your toe or foot as it is after all treatment is finished, and the amount also depends on your ability or inability to go back to the job you had when you were injured. There may also be different payments if you had a previous injury to another part of your body
You can try to get an attorney to sue the insurance company for bad faith, but generally delayed treatment claims require major damage and, while I understand this is major for you, it may not be enough for a lawyer to take the insurance bad faith case. They can be very expensive to present to a court (not the Industrial Commission), and your "damages," the amount of money the insurance company would have to pay, generally has to be very high. You can also file a bad faith or what is called an unfair claim processing complaint at the Industrial Commission, and if there is an award it will likely be $500, maybe a bit more. Again, I understand your foot injury is a serious problem for you and the question is going to be if there is "value" in court.
I would recommend contacting a qualified workers' compensation lawyer and they should be able to see if a bad faith attorney would take your case once they can see the work injury claim file. Especially whatever your foot doctor wrote in treatment records
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