Recent Blog Posts

There Are No Problem Clients...There Is Only Failure to Communicate

Kansas City Workers Compensation Attorney — Wed, 02 May 2012 23:59:00 GMT

I was recently asked to speak at a continuing legal education seminar for the Missouri Bar Association. The topic: How to deal with difficult clients from a legal ethics perspective. While the typical and expected angle would have been to talk about documenting communication with the client, avoid missing deadlines and how to withdraw from claims and clients that become too problematic, I had a different approach. Instead of "dealing" with the difficult client, what if you keep the client from becoming "difficult" in the first place?

Over the years, I have had several clients who worked with other attorneys either on prior claims or where the client actually terminated the other attorney's services on the claim I took over. More often than not, the biggest complaint I would hear as that the other attorney, "never explained anything to me. I never knew what was going on or why." The workers' compensation system is already frustrating enough on its own. The procedural delays, the limitations on benefits to be paid, and the disinterested insurance company are already sources of annoyance and anger. Your attorney shouldn't be another one.

When an injured worker contacts an attorney, he or she generally wants two things: answers and action.

Answers:

By the end of the initial consultation, the client should have a good understanding of the benefits and relief that are available in workers' compensation (and no, it's not millions of dollars like on T.V.). By gaining a realistic expectation of the outcome that can be achieved, there's less chance of being disappointed once it's actually accomplished. In addition, the client should be told of any difficulties or defects that may exist in his or her claim. If there are some facts that may make the claim harder to prove or that may cause delays as certain procedural battles are waged, they should be identified and explained up front. That way, there are no surprises for the client when the insurance company starts trying to put up legal barriers that need to be knocked down.

Action:

Once the available benefits are identified and understood, and any issues or problems that may exist in pursuing those benefits are discussed, the plan of action needs to be laid out. Will an evaluation with your attorney's doctor be required? Will there need to be a hearing in front of the Judge to get you your medical treatment and temporary disability for lost time from work? How long will all of this take and what can be done to make the other side do something!?

Each potential step can be identified as well as the likely timeframe. Then, as each step is taken, you as the client should be able to see it happening so you know things are being done on your behalf. Whether you're being copied on a letter or e-mail being sent out on your claim or simply having your phone call returned, you should always know where your claim is in the process, what should happen next and how you're going to get there.

You as the client deserve to know these things. Frankly, if you are given this information, and then see that things are being done as you were told they would be, this makes our jobs easier as well. It allows us to focus our time on moving our clients' claims forward as opposed to responding to doubts and uncertainties that clients shouldn't be left to deal with on their own. As I stated before, the system itself and the people on the other side of it are already enough to get frustrated about. Your attorney should be limiting this frustration, not adding to it! If you ever do have questions about what can be accomplished on your behalf and what it would take to get there, don't hesitate to call. A little communication can cure a lot of difficulties.

An Injured Worker Who Gets Fired Gets No Pay? Not So Fast!

Kansas City Workers Compensation Attorney — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 16:00:00 GMT

A worker gets injured on the job, is receiving medical treatment and is placed on temporary work restrictions. If the employer is unable to return her to work under those restrictions, she would then receive temporary total disability benefits under workers' compensation. If work is available within those restrictions, and that worker is then terminated while on light duty, can she still receive temporary total disability? A client of ours was recently told "NO" by her employer, but the Judge found otherwise. While the employer may have the initial say, it sure isn't the final one.

Workers' compensation laws were recently changed in Kansas to match some of the harsher rules that already existed in Missouri. If an injured worker is terminated for cause (post-injury misconduct in Missouri), and the employer can show that it would have been able to accommodate the temporary restrictions, that worker then forfeits any right to temporary total disability benefits. Unfortunately, an injured worker in that situation also doesn't qualify for unemployment benefits. No wages being paid, no workers' temporary total disability and no unemployment benefits means no money coming in to pay the bills!

With these changes, we have seen a definite increase in situations where employers are looking for any excuse they can to fire an injured worker in an effort to get out of paying temporary total disability. This means that the injured worker then has to be doubly careful not to do anything wrong. Even so, the burden is still on the employer to prove that there was a legitimate reason to fire the person. Fortunately, it appears that the judges are holding them to that burden.

Our client had suffered a rather severe injury to her shoulder and neck. She was then offered a light duty job within her restrictions. Within three days, she was told that she was being terminated and that she would receive nothing more than her medical treatment through workers' compensation. When she asked why she was being fired, she was simply told that she wasn't meeting expectations. Fortunately, she knew that this didn't sound right, so she gave us a call.

As soon as possible, we brought the matter before the Judge at preliminary hearing. While we were told of numerous "violations" that our client committed during her employment, they had no proof to offer. There were no written warnings and no witnesses to any wrongdoing. The employer had hoped that yet another injured worker would simply accept what she was being told without questioning it – but not this time! The Judge found that, "No policy of the respondent (employer) was introduced as evidence which claimant (employee) allegedly violated. No reason given claimant for her termination." He then awarded temporary total disability benefits from the date of termination forward until our client is through with her medical treatment or is returned to work.

While you should always avoid doing anything that would justify your being terminated, this is never more true than while you are recovering from a work-related injury. If they find some excuse to fire you, you may still have options. Just remember one thing: You cannot and should not accept everything you are told by either your employer or its workers' compensation carrier about your claim and what you are entitled to. A free consultation with an aggressive and experienced workers' compensation attorney never hurts and may just help more than you could imagine.

There Are No Tough Guys in Work Comp

Kansas City Workers Compensation Attorney — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 14:22:00 GMT

Have you ever heard this scenario?

You work hard all week at your job. Now, it's finally Friday and you can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Three more hours and you will have some hard-earned free time to relax with your family and friends. Then…BAM! You were lifting the steel lid covering the machine when decades of corrosion finally decided to make its presence known. You push, the lid pushes back and…POP! Goes your shoulder.

Well, this is just great! Now you have a perfectly compensable workers compensation claim but you don't want to spend the next 2 hours doing paperwork and explaining to your boss what happened followed by 3 to 6 hours at the company clinic for what is surely going to wind up being a minor shoulder strain. So what do you decide to do? "I'm gonna keep my mouth shut, finish my shift, go home, ice it down and see how it feels on Monday."

This is the first of potentially a series of mistakes that could ultimately result in the denial of your claim. We have heard this scenario hundreds of times. The problem starts when you realize on Sunday that this shoulder isn't getting better, it's getting worse. So you go in on Monday and you tell the boss what happened last Friday and you ask to be sent to the clinic. Can you guess what the first question your boss asks?

"So, what did you do over the weekend?"

This is where denials are born. The first rule of workers compensation is: Report all of your accidents, no matter what. The second rule of workers compensation is: REPORT ALL OF YOUR ACCIDENTS, NO MATTER WHAT! Even though there is a window of time to report your injuries, simply reporting them within the window does not automatically make a claim compensable. If the employer or insurance carrier can find any hook to hang a denial on, they will take it. Most of the time, they know that such a denial will be futile but, sometimes, it's just enough to get people to give up altogether.

As Kansas City workers compensation attorneys, we know that it is often the very first steps taken in a claim that will determine the ease or difficulty with which it will be handled. As stated above, always report the accident. You can ask not to go to the doctor, to see how it progresses over the weekend or for the next couple of days. But ALWAYS make sure there is a record made on the day of the accident. Also, once you do see a doctor, make sure you tell him or her every body part involved in the accident. We realize that your hyperextended pinkie finger my not be a priority when you are sure every tendon holding your arm to your body is torn. However, just like the passage of the weekend, if you ask for treatment to a body part several weeks after the accident, the first thing the insurance company is going to do is wonder what has happened in the meantime. If there is some record of a complaint to that body part, you are almost certain to receive treatment voluntarily, without a big delay.

So then you ask, "What about a repetitive injury where I really don't know the accident date?" The answer to that question and many others will be posted in the very near future. Or, you can call or email the attorneys at Haight Stang LLC for honest and accurate advice.

The Written Claim Game

Kansas City Workers Compensation Attorney — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 22:51:00 GMT

On May 15,2011, the Kansas Legislature did away with one really insidious part of the Kansas Workers Compensation Act. Prior to that date, not only did you have to give notice to your employer after an accident, you had to provide a written claim for compensation within 200 days of your accident date or the last authorized benefit, whichever was later. Here is the problem with that: Nobody knows about it!

Imagine a scenario where you have an accident and then immediately report it to your boss. Better yet, your boss actually witnesses the accident. He takes you to the doctor and then you receive ongoing treatment and lost time for the next 6 months. After your doctor finally releases you back to work, the only thing left is to negotiate a settlement with the employer for the permanent partial disability, right?

You'd think so! I mean, there is no question you had an accident. Your boss saw it and took you to the doctor! Also, there is no doubt you wish to receive workers compensation benefits resulting from this accident. You've been receiving them in the form of medical treatment and lost time for six months! So what's the problem?

The problem is that you have gotten busy trying to catch up at work and you have let 200 days pass since your last authorized benefit. You were in no hurry to get this done and neither was the claims representative. Except that over this whole period, you never once provided anything in writing to the employer indicating your intention to obtain workers compensation benefits (I know you have already received some – common sense has no place here). Unfortunately, this can be absolutely fatal to your case.

Truthfully, I have actually heard of claims representatives paying the last bill and then calendaring their file for 201 days. If they have not heard from the claimant – Boom! The file is closed. One of the first things an insurance company lawyer looks at when he or she receives a new file is whether there is a "200 day" defense. It is a really easy way to avoid liability because nobody from the insurance company EVER tells you, "Now make sure you serve your written claim on the employer. We wouldn't want you to lose out on any benefits you have coming."

Now that the law has changed, there can be confusion as to whether this 200 day written claim is still required. The important detail is the date of your accident, not the date you finished treatment. If your accident happened before the law changed, you still HAVE to provide a written claim. Oh, and as far as written claim in Missouri…there is none. Although you are supposed to provide a written notice within 30 days…we'll have to deal with that one later.

Give a Kansas City workers compensation attorney at Haight Stang LLC a call to find out whether you need to provide a written claim. Even if you think that more than 200 days has passed since you last received any treatment or benefits and that your claim may fail as a result, there are a few loopholes that may apply. Contacting one of our attorneys (or e-mail) is free and could make the difference between receiving and not receiving permanent partial disability. THOUSANDS of dollars, folks. Make the call.

Functional v. Work Disability (Part 2)

Mike Stang — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 16:11:00 GMT

Ok. So, you have an injury and you are left with permanent restrictions. What now? Well, it depends on where you are and what parts you injured. Let me explain. In Kansas, there is a benefit called work disability, which, in my opinion, serves two purposes. First, it gives incentive to employers to bring back injured workers that have restrictions and try to accommodate them. Second, if they don't bring you back, it gives you a small cushion to allow you to figure out what you are going to do next with your life.

Here is how it works. You remember from below how to calculate functional impairment, right? First of all, you can't have work disability if you have injured anything but an unscheduled body part, essentially your head, neck, or back, or since the law changed on May 15,2011, bilateral opposing limbs. So that guy in the post below would not get work disability for his shoulder if he lost his job. However, if you have an unscheduled injury and you either lose your job because of your restrictions or your wage is reduced to 90% or less of your average weekly wage, you could be eligible for work disability. At that point, we don't care about your percentage of functional impairment (well, we do, but…). Instead, we have a whole different set of information that we use. Eyes glazing over yet?

First, we have your essential job tasks analyzed. We have a vocational expert go through all of your jobs over the past 15 years, or 5 years if your accident happened after May 15, 2011, and determine all of the tasks necessary to do your job or jobs. Then we have a doctor look at those tasks and determine the percentage of them you can no longer perform as a result of your restrictions. That is your task loss percentage.

We then figure out your post-injury wage and compare it to your pre-injury wage and calculate your wage loss percentage. Then we average those percentages together and that's your work disability. Here's an example: You have a back injury that has resulted in excess of 7.5% functional impairment (which, by the way, is the new minimum functional impairment to be eligible for work disability) and no ttd (your company benevolently let you work light duty during your treatment). Assuming no restrictions, you went back to work, and your compensation rate was the max of $545, your functional impairment settlement would look like this: 415 X 8% = 33.2 weeks X $545 = $18,094.00 (I always round up no matter what!)

But wait! Same injury, same treatment, same light duty except the doctor makes your restrictions permanent and the company fires you because they can't accommodate permanent restrictions. Let's say you found a job as a greeter at Wal-Mart and it pays half of what your were making before but your restrictions have knocked you out of 65% of your pre-injury tasks. Now the calculation looks like this: Task Loss = 65%. Wage Loss = 50%. Average = 57.5% Work Disability. 415 X 57.5% = 238.635 weeks X $545 = $130,050.63 (Notice no where is the 8% functional impairment noted–Like I said, nobody cares!).

Quite a difference, isn't it? Now depending on when your accident was, in this scenario, it could be subject the the $100,000 statutory cap which was increased to $130,000 on May 15, 2011. Also, there are about a zillion other factors to consider to determine whether you are eligible for work disability but, the bottom line is this: If you have a back injury with 8% impairment, which calculation do you think the insurance company is going to use to make your settlement offer? I'll answer that for you. In 14 years of practice, I have NEVER seen a work disability offered before counsel was hired. NEVER.

Whew! That's a lot to digest. It's complicated even for seasoned lawyers. Think of all the poor people who got that 8% offer and accepted it, not knowing that work disability was even an option. Knowledge is power and now you have it.

By the way, remember I told you in the last post that Missouri's work disability would take less time to explain? That's because they don't have it. No matter what happens to your job, your wages, or your task performing abilities as a result of your work injury, you get functional impairment. Unless you are permanently and totally disabled.

But that's a whole different can of tuna…

For more information, please contact a Kansas City Workers' Compensation attorney at Haight & Stang.

Functional Disability vs. Work Disability: Who gets what ?

Kansas City Workers Compensation Lawyer — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 20:32:00 GMT

After you have received all of your treatment and the insurance company has (hopefully) paid all of your temporary benefits, what remaining benefit does an injured worker have? The answer: Permanent Partial Disability. There are vast differences in the Workers Compensation laws between Kansas and Missouri in this area. My explanation of Kansas law will take a couple of paragraphs. Missouri law will take one sentence. Maybe two.

In Kansas, there are two kinds of permanent partial disability, or PPD. There is functional disability and work disability. Think of functional disability as compensation for the chunk of your body that is no longer working the same way after you have been released from treatment. This number is based on a doctor's assessment of your overall condition based on objective factors such as strength loss and range of motion loss as well as subjective factors such as pain complaints. If a doctor believes you have gotten to 80% of your pre-injury function, then you get paid for the resulting loss of 20%. The formula uses 3 factors: 1) the body part affected, 2) the percentage of impairment, and 3) your compensation rate. An example would be 20% to the shoulder for someone that makes $600 per week. In that case, the compensation rate is two-thirds of your wage ($400). The formula would look like this: 225 (the amount of weeks for a shoulder) X 20% = 45 weeks X $400 (your compensation rate) = $18,000. Seems simple? Sorta. There are some other factors to consider including the amount of lost time paid but for our purposes today we are not going to get into that.

Functional disability is used when a person has what is referred to as a "scheduled injury" only (an injury that does not include the head, back, or bilateral extremities since May 15, 2011) or if a person has an unscheduled injury (head, neck, back, or bilateral extremities since May 15, 2011) and is not eligible for work disability. So when, then, does somebody become eligible for work disability, you ask? As I can now assume that your eyes have a glazed, far away look in them, I will answer that question as well as many others in a couple of days. For now, know one thing: the percentage that the insurance company is willing to put into the above equation (and the resulting benefits they may offer to you) is almost certainly too low!

If you've been injured at work and need assistance with filing a claim or the legal process, please contact a Kansas City Workers Compensation Lawyer from our office today.

Tom Cruise Was Right!

Scott Wilson — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 19:38:00 GMT

Lt. Daniel Kaffee, as portrayed by Tom Cruise in "A Few Good Men", once said, "It's not what I know, its what I can prove." Nowhere is that statement more applicable than in workers' compensation claims, where common sense is can be drowned out by legal gamesmanship.

I was recently on a mediation docket in Kansas City, Missouri where I had the exact same issue in TWO different cases. In each one, the worker had suffered repetitive trauma injuries due to her everyday work activities. This resulted in pain and numbness in the hands and fingers. In both cases, authorized treatment was provided to their hands and wrists. In addition to these symptoms in the hands and fingers, each client was suffering from neck and shoulder pain. The problem for us, however, was that the medical records did not mark the first complaints of neck and shoulder pain until after the clients had been off of work for several weeks. In both cases, the neck and shoulder treatment was then denied by the insurance carrier since the related complaints started while the workers were off work. That's when they called Haight Stang LLC.

What do we know? We know that the neck and shoulder complaints started at the same time as the hand and wrist complaints and were caused when our clients performed the repetitive work. We know that the repetitive work in each case was the type that would cause injury to the neck and shoulders. We know that there could be no other cause for the injuries to the neck and shoulders because no similar activities were being performed outside of work. It stands to reason that whatever caused the hand and wrist injuries, caused the neck and shoulder injuries as well, right?

Wrong! Remember, it's not what we know, it's what we can prove. Of course, in order to prove something, we need to have evidence. To a large extent, workers compensation insurance companies have taken the position that, "If it's not in the medical records, it didn't happen." So at this point, the only thing I can PROVE is that the neck and shoulder complaints STARTED a few weeks after both workers stopped performing any work for their employers. Between what a client later says they told the doctor and what is actually documented in the records, the records will win out almost every time.

In talking to both of my clients, one said that even though the neck and shoulder complaints were present early on, the hands and wrists were the priority, so she figured she would deal with the other problems after her hand and wrist surgery. The other actually talked to the claims representative about her complaints but was told those complaints would resolve after her hand and wrist surgery. When asked about that conversation, the claims representative had no recollection of the discussion. Shocking!

Now, both cases are headed towards trial which may have been avoidable. What would have prevented this additional delay and hassle? Had both workers mentioned those complaints early on, it is doubtful that the insurance company would have even blinked at providing this additional treatment. But now they have a hook to hang their denial on. I don't think they will win, but they have succeeded in delaying benefits to both of my clients who legitimately need and deserve them.

Moral of the story: Make sure you have every complaint documented starting from the very first doctor's appointment. Be thorough and be consistent. Even though you and I know what caused your complaints, we still have to prove it. And the insurance company CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!

Do I Even Need a Lawyer?

Haight Stang, LLC — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 00:58:00 GMT

Almost without exception, one of the first things a prospective client says to me in the initial telephone consultation is, "I don't even know if I need a lawyer. Do you think I need a lawyer?" Without exception, my response is, "The insurance company already has a lawyer protecting its interests. Who's protecting yours?"

The fact of the matter is that often times, the insurance company has "in-house" counsel, lawyers that are employed by the insurance company itself. Their desks are often right down the hall from the claims representative's desk and they are available all day long for legal questions and strategy. With great confidence, I can assure you that they are not trying to figure out how to maximize your benefit recovery. The insurance company lawyer's job is to see if there is a feasible way to a) deny your claim, or b) minimize your benefits.

While there are times where an injured worker does not NEED a lawyer, it is never unreasonable to have one and it is always advisable to at least TALK to one. "Delay" is the most prevalent complaint we hear from people with claims for which the insurance company has "agreed" to pay benefits. In our experience, the mere presence of an attorney has improved the handling of a claim. The claims representative has many files to handle, often too many files to handle. Unrepresented claimants frequently get pushed aside in favor of their represented counterparts. This is because the claims representative knows that any delay of a represented claimant will result in being hauled into court to explain the delay, resulting in additional expense on the part of the insurance company. If you were the claims representative, which file are you more likely to ignore: the represented claimant for which delay will cost money or the unrepresented claimant for which delay will only result in another telephone message to ignore?

Another advantage from having a lawyer is, quite frankly, your benefit recovery is greater than that of an unrepresented claimant. As an example, shortly after the Missouri Legislature overhauled their workers compensation statutes in 2005, The Missouri Lawyers Weekly did a survey of the average settlement before and after the statutory changes. The survey was cited in an article published on www.allbusiness.com and stated:

According to Division of Workers' Compensation figures, represented workers in the year before the law change earned average settlements that were 38 percent, or $5,600, larger than those who were pro se (unrepresented). However, the gap has widened, with represented workers in the year after the law change getting average settlements that were 49 percent, or $7,300, more on average than those of pro se workers.

Source:
http://www.allbusiness.com/government/government-bodies-offices-law-courts-tribunals/14473585-1.html#ixzz1n8shglIB

Even before the changes, there was a huge difference between the recoveries of represented and unrepresented injured workers and it has only gotten worse since then.

Contacting a lawyer at Haight Stang LLC doesn't cost you a cent. If you truly do not need a lawyer we will honestly tell you and leave it to you whether you want to retain one anyway. However, it you take a look at our Guarantee and our Pledge, there is literally no downside to hiring a workers compensation professional who's sole purpose is to protect your rights and maximize your recovery. As you read this, you can be assured that the insurance company already has lawyers on its side. So, who's on your side?

Light Duty Pay Sucks! Can They Do That?

Scott Wilson — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 02:02:00 GMT

Short answer: Sometimes.

If you are on restrictions from the authorized treating physician, your employer has two options. It can put you to work in an accommodated, light duty position or it can send you home and start paying you lost time, known as Temporary Total Disability (TTD). The second option is easy. If you are on TTD, they have to pay you two-thirds of your average weekly wage. The first option is a little problematic. If you are on light duty and making less than you were making prior to the accident, do they have to make up the difference?

Yes. Kind of. In Missouri, we simply total up what you make on light duty each week, subtract it from your pre-injury average weekly wage, then they have to pay you two-thirds of the difference up to a statutory maximum. Its called Temporary Partial Disability (TPD). As a example, if you were making $1000 per week before your accident and now they have you counting paperclips for $10 per hour while on light duty, the calculation is as follows: $1000 – $400 = $600 X 2/3 = $400. So now your are making $800 per week ($400 in wages and $400 in TPD) instead of $1000 (which sucks) but it beats nothing.

Seems simple, right? You would think so. However, in my experience, I have yet to find a claims representative that has actually calculated it correctly. Every single time I have run the numbers, my client has been shorted and we have to make a demand that the weekly benefits be increased or add the shortfall to our settlement demand. Sometimes it comes to thousands of dollars that my client would have missed if we hadn't checked the claims representative's math.

In Kansas, the calculation formula is the same except for one HUGE difference: Until May 15, 2011, you could not get TPD unless you had an unscheduled injury, basically a head, neck, or back injury. If you were on restrictions for your shoulder, knee, elbow, wrists, or essentially any injured extremity, you could not collect TPD and so you could be stuck with your light duty pay, sometimes even if it was less than you would make on lost time (TTD). Outrageous! That was always one of my least favorite conversations with my clients.

Thankfully, that omission has been corrected in the new statutes and Kansas claimants are now entitled to the same TPD benefits to which Missouri claimants are entitled, albeit with differing maximum rates. The lesson is this: SAVE YOUR STUBS! Without your light duty stubs and your stubs from your work comp checks, we cannot do a comparison to see if they got it right. Open a folder, throw your stubs in it and then make sure somebody checks the math. Its definitely worth it.

A TREE FALLS IN THE FOREST . . .

Haight Stang, LLC — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:28:00 GMT

We've all heard the age-old riddle of, "If a tree falls in the forest, but no one's around to hear it, does it really make a sound?" This same riddle can be used in workers' compensation. If a worker gets hurt on the job, but doesn't report it in the correct and timely manner, can he get the medical treatment and disability benefits he's entitled to? Unfortunately, the answer to this riddle is a bit easier. The answer is "No".

Like most other states, Kansas and Missouri have specific requirements for both the time allowed for an injured worker to report an industrial accident and the type of information that must be provided. These rules have been made stricter in recent years, and failure to follow them can derail a claim before it even gets started. What is potentially most frightening about this is that most health insurance and short-term disability policies do not cover work-related injuries. As such, if the timely notice requirement is not met, an injured worker can be left with no way to get the medical treatment he or she needs in order to get back to work, and no financial assistance while hoping to recover. This unfortunate scenario needs to be avoided at all costs.

While more detailed information is available throughout our website, www.kcworkcomp.com, you should know that notice of a work-related injury should be given within 30 days of when the accident took place or from when diagnosed as work-related by a doctor. In Kansas, this is reduced to 20 days if you no longer work for that employer. In addition, the notice should make clear the belief that the injury was caused by a described accident or specific work activities. Simply reporting pain without a work-related cause is not enough. It is definitely best to do so in writing that includes your name and address. A copy of the notice can then be kept for your own records.

Although there are a few loopholes to the specific deadlines and requirements, it's best to avoid them entirely. Timely notice of a work-related injury is the first and, thus, the most important step in preserving the benefits to which you are rightfully entitled. Unlike the tree, you CAN and SHOULD make a sound after you fall. Best of all, we're here to help pick you back up.

If we can answer any questions you have about your work related injury, please do not hesitate to contact us at (913) 498-9779 in Kansas, (816) 286-4151 in Missouri or at info@kcworkcomp.com.

A NEW BREED OF LAWYERS . .

Workers' Compensation Attorney — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 17:14:00 GMT

A NEW BREED OF LAWYERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Welcome to the first blog entry for the law firm of Haight Stang, LLC! Our goal will be to inform, enlighten and (if it's even possible) entertain readers about workers' compensation in Kansas and Missouri. While our website, www.kcworkcomp.com, will present more general information about workers' compensation deadlines, benefits, and do's and don'ts, we'll delve a bit deeper into specific areas and experiences here in future entries.

Mike Haight and Mike Stang have been practicing workers' compensation for more than 32 years combined. A portion of our earlier years was spent as defense attorneys working for the employers and insurance companies on the other side. We each then spent several years prosecuting claims for injured workers - but did so under guidelines and outdated systems set by others. There is a better way.

We both feel that one of the most frustrating yet fixable problems with this system is the lack of information and understanding for the workers it is supposed to help. The rules as written and the limits in available benefits are already frustrating enough. We hope to empower and motivate the readers of this blog to know their rights and, ultimately, to help our clients receive everything they are entitled to under the law. We would welcome any questions or comments either here or by giving us a call at (913) 498-9779 or at (816) 268-4151. Stay tuned!