The Chinese supposedly have an old saying: “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” Well, what does that mean? Basically this: if you want the best opportunity for success in your case, it would have been great to have already done it at the very beginning. But failing that, there's no better time than now.
Why is that? And what really should I look for as far as when to hire a lawyer for my case?
The advantage of having a lawyer in the very beginning is the attorney can help you avoid the traps set for you by the insurance carrier and employer. When a claim is filed, there are a few common traps they will use.
One, they will try to get you to their doctor who will minimize the injury and avoid addressing all possible diagnoses from the injury. Often this is unintentional. A doctor will focus on an injured shoulder because the damage is severe, but in doing so, will get tunnel vision and not address the injured back. If time passes without documentation, an adjuster will use this to deny care for the back stating that there is no documentation connecting it to the injury. A lawyer can help avoid that.
Two, they will try to trap you and twist your words into reasons to deny the claim. When a claim is reported more than 30 days after the injury, they will try to twist your words to prove that you didn't report it within 30 days and deny your claim. They will try to tease out any and all past injury or medical issues to claim it is pre-existing. A lawyer can help you word your answers to be clear and truthful while avoiding any impression that the injury should not be covered.
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