Workers’ Compensation Head Injury Lawyer in Chicago

Suffering any type of blow to the head can create ongoing health complications, emotional trauma, and may lead to behavioral challenges over time. When you have substantial injuries and losses, a workers’ compensation head injury lawyer in Chicago is one of the best assets available to you.

At Charlie Therman Injury & Accident Lawyers, P.C., we provide our workers’ compensation clients with confidence and support when they need it the most. Start with a free consultation to learn how we can help you. Our Chicago workers’ compensation lawyers have more than 75 years of combined experience.

What Makes Head Injury Work Accidents Challenging

Victims suffering brain injuries at work have a much more challenging time proving their losses and receiving fair compensation. The key to remember is that the brain takes time to heal, and the level of healing will differ for each person. What makes these cases challenging includes:

• Severity of your injury: Determining the severity of your injury can be complex. Workers’ compensation wants you to heal and get back to work. However, these injuries are internal and hard to monitor, especially when they affect cognition and behavior.
• Permanency of your injuries: If your head injury leads to permanent impairment, you have the right to seek disability. This is not just legally challenging, but can be critical to get right. These funds must be able to meet your needs on an ongoing basis.
• Catastrophic injuries: Many families face incredible challenges seeking fair compensation when their loved one suffers catastrophic injuries such as loss of speech, vision, hearing, or mobility. In some cases, this can happen.

These challenges are exactly why you need a Chicago workers’ compensation head injury attorney to help you navigate your case and the claims process. Our team will pursue full and fair compensation for you to the fullest extent allowed under the law. 

From there, the Chicago personal injury lawyers from Charlie Therman Injury & Accident Lawyers, P.C. will hold employers responsible for the impact this had on your health and life.

Types of Head Injuries in Workers’ Compensation Claims

A variety of work-related tasks could contribute to serious injuries, including to your head, neck, shoulders, and brain. If you are hurt at work, you have the right to hold your employer accountable for your medical costs and, in some cases, the lost wages you have. Some of the most common types of head injuries that could become serious workers’ compensation claims include:

• Concussions: A concussion occurs when a person is struck in the head, or a significant jolt to the head jars the brain. This can lead to memory issues, pain, confusion, and brain damage in serious cases.
• Contusions: A contusion is a type of bruise to the brain tissue, often from direct impact, such as being struck by something hard. Contusions range in severity and may include loss of memory and speech, changes in reasoning, and, in some situations, significant damage to cognitive function.
• Diffuse axonal injury: Often called DAI, this injury occurs when there is widespread damage to the nerve fibers in the brain. This often occurs with rapid acceleration and deceleration, as well as rotational forces on the brain, causing damage to blood vessels.
• Whiplash: Though whiplash is an injury to the muscles in the neck, it can occur alongside brain injuries and often results in headaches and dizziness.
• Skull fractures: In those who have a skull fracture, the risk of damage to brain tissue is high.

Many of these injuries can seriously impact brain health and function. Depending on the seriousness of the blow, you may face temporary or permanent damage to cognitive function. When this happens at work, seek the guidance of a Chicago head injury workers’ comp lawyer for immediate guidance. 

Common Causes of Head Injuries at Work

One of the most important steps our head injury workers’ compensation attorney will take for you is understanding exactly what happened to cause your injuries and losses. The more we know, the more avenues we have to pursue fair compensation for you. Some of the most common causes of head injuries in the workplace include:

• Falling objects: Something falls from overhead, like tools, materials, or inventory on high shelves.
• Slip and falls: A loss of balance due to wet floors, tripping over debris, or falling from ladders can lead to serious head trauma.
• Machinery and equipment–related accidents: Victims may suffer injuries due to moving parts on equipment, kickbacks, or tool malfunctions. 
• Motor vehicle accidents: Collisions, rollover accidents, and other work vehicle accidents can cause victims to suffer traumatic brain injuries and skull fractures.
• Violence: Violence in the workplace may result in serious injuries to victims, including from physical assaults and blunt force trauma.

Understanding the cause of your injuries allows our legal team to better learn who is at fault. In a workers’ compensation claim, we do not need to prove your employer is negligent. The accident injury is their responsibility, to a degree. However, there are many situations where a third party could be at fault as well or instead. That can change how you seek compensation.

What Happens if a Third Party is Responsible for Your Losses

In some workplace accidents, victims’ injuries are due to the actions of third parties, not necessarily their employer. If we can show that someone else, aside from your employer, caused your accident injuries, you can seek compensation for all of your losses, including non-economic losses such as pain and suffering. 

Non-economic losses are inaccessible through a workers’ compensation claim. Potential parties that may be responsible in these cases include:

• Contractors: If a third-party contractor is at your work location and they cause a hazard, the contractor could be responsible. This might be a plumber, electrician, repair technician, or a vendor installing equipment.
• Equipment manufacturers: If you suffer injuries and losses as a result of a manufacturer’s faulty equipment, lack of warning, or unsafe components, the manufacturer could be responsible for your injuries and losses.
• Property owners: Sometimes an accident happens on a jobsite and results from the property owner failing to maintain a safe environment. The owner could be held accountable if a hazard caused your injuries.
• A driver of another vehicle: Workers hurt in motor vehicle accidents often suffer serious injuries due to the reckless behavior of another driver. In these cases, the other driver could be responsible for your losses, not your employer.
• Maintenance teams: If an outside service provides maintenance to your place of employment, and they create a hazardous condition that causes you to suffer an injury, you can pursue compensation against that party.

As your workers’ compensation head injury lawyer in Chicago, we make it our objective to fight for you to receive the maximum amount of compensation possible. That often means we need to demonstrate that a third party is responsible for your losses. This does not apply to every situation. When it does, we will fight for you to receive fair treatment under the law. 

What Workers’ Compensation Pays After a Head Injury

If you are in an accident resulting in head injuries, your priority needs to be seeking comprehensive medical care. Employees hurt on the job can file a claim with their employer’s workers’ compensation provider. They must provide you with access to do so and cannot refuse your right to file a claim. Workers’ compensation may provide:

• Medical expenses: It will cover 100% of all of your reasonable and necessary medical expenses from your accident.
• Temporary total disability: In situations where you are out of work for some time, workers’ compensation replaces two-thirds of your average weekly wage until you can go back to work.
• Temporary partial disability: In situations where you can go back to work but cannot work as much, such as needing to engage in light duty, workers’ compensation pays a portion of the difference in your wages.

For those with long-term injuries, permanent partial disability and permanent total disability may be available to you, paying you compensation for your lost wages over time. In some cases, it may also pay for vocational rehabilitation, or the process of helping you gain new skills so you can do a new type of work. 

Our head injury workers’ compensation lawyer will help you demonstrate which method is best suited for your situation. 

What Happens If Your Loved One Dies from a Head Injury at Work

Victims of head injuries often suffer a serious risk of fatalities, and when that happens to your loved one, it can be unnerving and terrifying. As your head injury attorney in Illinois, we want to help you navigate your rights in these cases. We will help in several ways:

• Gather all possible evidence to best understand who is at fault for your loved one’s loss of life. A full investigation will demonstrate why this happened.
• Pinpoint all parties responsible for your loved one’s loss of life. In some cases, this may mean seeking out negligent third parties that contributed to the accident.
• Calculate all of your current losses and the future impact from the accident, including losses related to companionship, future earnings, and support.

If your loved one lost their life after a head injury at work, do not assume the workers’ compensation insurer or the company is going to treat you fairly. Let us fight for you to receive fair compensation under the law and, in doing so, help you to get justice for your loved one. Avoid settling your claim or even talking to those at fault until you have an attorney on your side.

How to Settle Your Workers’ Comp Case for Head Injuries

In many cases, a head injury will heal and improve within weeks or months, allowing you to take time off before heading back to work. For those with more significant injuries and the potential for permanent loss, it may be best to file a workers’ comp claim against your employer. A settlement can be challenging.

Settlements are only available when the insurance company believes that your injuries are serious and that your evidence is clear that you cannot go back to work. In these situations, you may need to go through arbitration to find a level of compensation that is considered fair. 

With an attorney by your side, that may be easier to do with more confidence because we have the resources to help you demonstrate proof of your losses. There are times when you may need to seek legal action in a court of law. 

Going to court is more challenging, but it also opens the door for more potential compensation to help you continue to live your life as you desire, if you win your case. Our legal team is ready to help you build a lawsuit that holds those who allowed this to happen accountable. 

Workers’ Compensation is Meant to Protect You, to a Degree

Illinois workers’ compensation is meant to provide workers with financial protection if they are hurt on the job, such as paying for medical bills and lost wages. Yet, workers’ compensation does not always treat you fairly if you cannot go back to work or have long-term injuries, unless you prove what those losses are worth. 

Because proof of such losses can be complex, and demonstrating those losses could mean spending a significant amount of money on experts, it is often beneficial to work with a lawyer.

Schedule a Free Consultation with Our Chicago Workers’ Compensation Head Injury Lawyer

At Charlie Therman Injury & Accident Lawyers, P.C., we hold those who hurt you accountable and protect your rights to full and fair compensation for any losses you have. 

Schedule a free consultation with our workers’ compensation head injury attorney in Chicago to discuss your case and determine what it may be worth. We do not charge you anything up front and only get paid if you win your case.