Check Out Our Podcast: The Verdict
Just because you were hurt at work doesn’t mean your claim is covered, and the attorney you choose can make all the difference. So what separates one attorney from another? Today we sit down with workers’ comp attorney Brian Groesser to unpack the complexities of finding the right legal representation after a workplace injury.
Workers' compensation law is filled with unique intricacies that differ significantly from other legal areas. It’s not enough to simply be injured at work; the injury must meet specific criteria to be considered compensable. An experienced attorney can navigate these nuances and help clients determine if they have a viable case. We’ll discuss the most common reasons claims are denied, the quirks of the system, and what qualities to look for in a great attorney.
From understanding “injury by accident” rules to knowing how credibility, communication, and preparation affect settlement outcomes, this conversation goes beyond the basics.
Here’s what we discuss in this episode:
🧾 Why not all workplace injuries are covered
🧠 How experience with both sides of a claim matters
💬 The number one client complaint — and how to avoid it
🤝 Why credibility with insurers changes the outcome
📅 How preparation from day one shapes the case
0:00 – What to look for in a lawyer
1:53 – Disputing claims
3:00 – People skills are important
5:27 – Credibility
8:24 – Importance of preparation
Workers comp, attorney, catastrophic injury, legal claims, communication, credibility, claims
Learn more about how Speaks Law Firm can help you: https://www.speakslaw.com/
Schedule your FREE case review: https://www.speakslaw.com/our-team/r-clarke-speaks/#contactFormTarget
Find us on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3R40YMP
Speaker 1 00:00
I'm Clark, speaks the catastrophic injury lawyer, welcome to the verdict. Hi and welcome to the verdict. I'm here with Brian grosser. Brian is a lead workers compensation attorney at speaks law firm. Welcome Brian. Thanks for being here.
00:14
I'm happy to be here. I've been looking forward to doing this,
Speaker 1 00:17
Brian, first of all, can you tell me? Tell me, if a person is injured at work, what kinds of things should they be looking for at a lawyer? What kinds of strengths and skills and experience and what should they be looking for? I think
Speaker 2 00:30
experience is a big thing. I think it absolutely is, because there's a lot, there are a lot of things in the world of workers comp that are different than any other area of the law. There's a lot of quirky aspects to the law, and you just when you mentioned at the beginning, just because you were injured at work, well that doesn't necessarily mean it's a compensable case. A lot of people, employers and employees, think, well, I got injured at work. It's workers comp. It's automatically covered. No, it has to be an injury by accident, and then it has to arise out of and within the course and scope of the employment. And so just simply getting injured at work isn't enough. You have to meet that criteria to even have a claim in the first place. And so having an experienced lawyer, I think, is the number one thing. But number two, having someone who knows the system, that knows the system in and out, and if they have experience on the other side, I think that's helpful, right? And somebody that knows what the adjuster is going to be doing, what the employer is going to be doing. So I think having experience and knowledge of the law, obviously, but knowing what the other side is going to be doing, I think helps immensely. And what, in my experience, has been doing this plaintiff side work, it's helped a lot in terms of being able to know the value of the case, being able to know what the adjuster is going to be willing to do, whether they're really going to go to a hearing or they're going to be ready to settle. All those aspects really helped. I think those are the two main things. What
Speaker 1 01:50
I would in terms of the experience you said, just because you're hurt work doesn't mean it's necessarily compensable. It's got to be an accident and it's got to be in the scope of employment. Are those things sometimes in dispute, and if they are in dispute, can we influence the outcome of the decision on those issues? 100% Those
Speaker 2 02:08
are always in dispute. I mean, if you're gonna talk about the number one reason why somebody denies a case, it's one of those three things, that it wasn't an accident, that it didn't arise out of the employment, and that it wasn't within the course and scope. Those are the three main denials. There are other denials where you talk about intoxication and other aspects kind of nuanced defenses, but for the most part, those are the three main defenses that an insurance carrier is going to put out there. And so it's vital to know having an attorney that knows what can classify as an accident versus what might not classify as an accident is vital, because you need to know the truth at the at the outset of your case. Do you have a case or not? Right? You don't want to spend all your time and energy on a case that doesn't really exist because you didn't have an accident. It was just
Speaker 1 02:50
it's close. You need somebody with experience who can then maybe push an advocate shows what evidence to develop in order to secure a favorable, 100% accurate. Okay, so experience is one thing. What's What's something else? You know, you need somebody who has experience, who has experience in workers compensation, who has experience in workers compensation. I think you mentioned from the side of the fence is critical, and then also from the side of the plaintiff. What are the what are other things in addition to experience? And that would be important people
Speaker 2 03:21
skills, to be honest with you. I mean, you are working with this attorney, you know, hand in hand for the duration of your case. Your case may be open for three months. It may be open for two years. I think most cases tend to be open for about a year. You know, year, maybe year and a half is the length of most cases. But in my opinion, no matter what you're doing, whether it's with a legal representative or a realtor or whatever business deal you're working, I feel like experience matters, obviously, but you guys have to like the person that you're working with, I think, because you're dealing with and you're putting a lot of trust in their hands to handle your case and in workers comp, it's your livelihood. I mean, you have claimants that don't have a check coming in because the carrier has denied their case and they don't have any money coming in, so they're putting their full faith and credit into you as their representative to fix that and to be able to get them money so that they can pay those bills and everything. And so the experience and the knowledge comes in, but you've got a lot of communication that happens, and they don't really teach you that in law school, right? They don't really teach you the communication side of it. But especially in our line of work, we're taking phone calls and we're doing emails every day with our clients, and you develop a personal relationship with them. And I think people skills, if there's one complaint, the number one complaint that a client has about an attorney is the lack of communication, not hearing from them, their their attorney, not knowing what's going on in their case, not hearing from them. You gotta have people skills. You gotta have somebody that's responsive,
Speaker 1 04:49
and so we can appreciate that, right? Like imagine being hurt. Your livelihood is at stake. You're dependent on this in order to be able. Able to pay your bills. And then, you know, and then, really, what you're dependent on, it is to be able to take care of your family, right? You're trying to, you're trying to figure out, how am I going to pay for rent, for car payments, for Little League dues, for school lunches, for the different things that we have to pay for in our lives when my income source has been eliminated, and so they're dependent on you. So you mentioned educate. I mean, sorry, you mentioned experience. You mentioned knowing what the other side is going to be doing, knowing what the other side is going to be doing, people, skills, communication, I think, is a big part of it that you just mentioned trustworthiness. What about credibility with the other side? What part does that play in it? If, if you, if you're known as somebody who does what they say they're going to do, then is that, I imagine that that's helpful in most areas of the law, is that, does that apply in workers compensation
Speaker 2 05:51
as well? Absolutely. Workers comp is different than other areas of the law, like, say, for instance. And I tell people this all the time. You slip and fall at a retail store, let's just say, hypothetically, slip and fall at target as a customer, right? That's an all or nothing type situation, right? Where we're in a negligent state, and if you're partially negligent at all, you could recover nothing, and you could recover $100,000 you could cover a million dollars. You know, whatever the value of your case is that leads to a lot of contentiousness between the two sides, the two attorneys, because there's a lot on the line. And I'm not saying that there's not a lot on the line in comp, it's a different type of line, though, because typically there's going to be some semblance of recovery. It's just a matter of how much. It's very rare that there's a $0 nothing value case. There may be a nominal value case, but you're always going to, with few exceptions, recover something out of it. And so the question is, how much are you going to be able to recover? And a lot of that, in my opinion, does hinge on the credibility of the attorneys that are dealing with the case. If you have credibility with the other side, they're going to be more willing and able to listen to your arguments when you go to a mediation or when you eventually go to a hearing, or risk going to a hearing, I'd much rather go against a hearing. Go to a hearing against somebody that doesn't really have great experience or doesn't have great credibility, because their reputation is not only known amongst the bar in terms of the people that are practicing, but also up at the Industrial Commission right there, if you have respect, if you have credibility within the industry, people are going to respect and give credence to your opinion on a case and say, You know what? That's probably right. Or there are some defenses I didn't think about, or there are some issues I didn't think about that he brought up, and we should consider them. That's the key. I mean, it's, it's all a negotiation. When you're talking about 90% of cases settling before they ever go to a hearing. On TV, we see that going to a jury all the time the trial, and you imagine doing that in law school too, that you're always going to be litigating going it just doesn't happen in the real world. It doesn't happen that much in workers comp, 75% of cases settle at mediation. Of those that don't, 90% overall, settle before you ever get to a hearing. It's very rare that you actually get to a hearing at the Industrial Commission, and so most of your cases are going to be resolved through negotiation, through the attorneys. And if your attorney doesn't have credibility, it's going to be hard for you to negotiate because the other side's not going to take you seriously. What
Speaker 1 08:24
part does preparation play in in resolving cases for clients quickly and for the most value,
Speaker 2 08:33
it's absolutely vital, and it's true on both sides, both for the attorney and for the employee, to be prepared early on, and there are different ways. I mean, I, as an attorney, I don't get a phone call typically, until weeks after an injury, maybe even months after an injury takes place. So there's preparation that needs to be done on the employee side before they even make a phone call to me. But from my standpoint, we're preparing from the time that we first pick up the phone in the office and start taking the information from from the potential client as to what's happening in the case. So being prepared. You have to be prepared if you want to have a successful outcome in your case.
Speaker 1 09:09
Thank you, Brian. In the next episode, we'll talk about the very first things that you should do after workplace accident. Thanks for joining us. Don't forget to subscribe and follow us to stay up to date with our weekly episodes. We'll see you next time you.
Speaker 1 00:00
I'm Clark, speaks the catastrophic injury lawyer, welcome to the verdict. Hi and welcome to the verdict. I'm here with Brian grosser. Brian is a lead workers compensation attorney at speaks law firm. Welcome Brian. Thanks for being here.
00:14
I'm happy to be here. I've been looking forward to doing this,
Speaker 1 00:17
Brian, first of all, can you tell me? Tell me, if a person is injured at work, what kinds of things should they be looking for at a lawyer? What kinds of strengths and skills and experience and what should they be looking for? I think
Speaker 2 00:30
experience is a big thing. I think it absolutely is, because there's a lot, there are a lot of things in the world of workers comp that are different than any other area of the law. There's a lot of quirky aspects to the law, and you just when you mentioned at the beginning, just because you were injured at work, well that doesn't necessarily mean it's a compensable case. A lot of people, employers and employees, think, well, I got injured at work. It's workers comp. It's automatically covered. No, it has to be an injury by accident, and then it has to arise out of and within the course and scope of the employment. And so just simply getting injured at work isn't enough. You have to meet that criteria to even have a claim in the first place. And so having an experienced lawyer, I think, is the number one thing. But number two, having someone who knows the system, that knows the system in and out, and if they have experience on the other side, I think that's helpful, right? And somebody that knows what the adjuster is going to be doing, what the employer is going to be doing. So I think having experience and knowledge of the law, obviously, but knowing what the other side is going to be doing, I think helps immensely. And what, in my experience, has been doing this plaintiff side work, it's helped a lot in terms of being able to know the value of the case, being able to know what the adjuster is going to be willing to do, whether they're really going to go to a hearing or they're going to be ready to settle. All those aspects really helped. I think those are the two main things. What
Speaker 1 01:50
I would in terms of the experience you said, just because you're hurt work doesn't mean it's necessarily compensable. It's got to be an accident and it's got to be in the scope of employment. Are those things sometimes in dispute, and if they are in dispute, can we influence the outcome of the decision on those issues? 100% Those
Speaker 2 02:08
are always in dispute. I mean, if you're gonna talk about the number one reason why somebody denies a case, it's one of those three things, that it wasn't an accident, that it didn't arise out of the employment, and that it wasn't within the course and scope. Those are the three main denials. There are other denials where you talk about intoxication and other aspects kind of nuanced defenses, but for the most part, those are the three main defenses that an insurance carrier is going to put out there. And so it's vital to know having an attorney that knows what can classify as an accident versus what might not classify as an accident is vital, because you need to know the truth at the at the outset of your case. Do you have a case or not? Right? You don't want to spend all your time and energy on a case that doesn't really exist because you didn't have an accident. It was just
Speaker 1 02:50
it's close. You need somebody with experience who can then maybe push an advocate shows what evidence to develop in order to secure a favorable, 100% accurate. Okay, so experience is one thing. What's What's something else? You know, you need somebody who has experience, who has experience in workers compensation, who has experience in workers compensation. I think you mentioned from the side of the fence is critical, and then also from the side of the plaintiff. What are the what are other things in addition to experience? And that would be important people
Speaker 2 03:21
skills, to be honest with you. I mean, you are working with this attorney, you know, hand in hand for the duration of your case. Your case may be open for three months. It may be open for two years. I think most cases tend to be open for about a year. You know, year, maybe year and a half is the length of most cases. But in my opinion, no matter what you're doing, whether it's with a legal representative or a realtor or whatever business deal you're working, I feel like experience matters, obviously, but you guys have to like the person that you're working with, I think, because you're dealing with and you're putting a lot of trust in their hands to handle your case and in workers comp, it's your livelihood. I mean, you have claimants that don't have a check coming in because the carrier has denied their case and they don't have any money coming in, so they're putting their full faith and credit into you as their representative to fix that and to be able to get them money so that they can pay those bills and everything. And so the experience and the knowledge comes in, but you've got a lot of communication that happens, and they don't really teach you that in law school, right? They don't really teach you the communication side of it. But especially in our line of work, we're taking phone calls and we're doing emails every day with our clients, and you develop a personal relationship with them. And I think people skills, if there's one complaint, the number one complaint that a client has about an attorney is the lack of communication, not hearing from them, their their attorney, not knowing what's going on in their case, not hearing from them. You gotta have people skills. You gotta have somebody that's responsive,
Speaker 1 04:49
and so we can appreciate that, right? Like imagine being hurt. Your livelihood is at stake. You're dependent on this in order to be able. Able to pay your bills. And then, you know, and then, really, what you're dependent on, it is to be able to take care of your family, right? You're trying to, you're trying to figure out, how am I going to pay for rent, for car payments, for Little League dues, for school lunches, for the different things that we have to pay for in our lives when my income source has been eliminated, and so they're dependent on you. So you mentioned educate. I mean, sorry, you mentioned experience. You mentioned knowing what the other side is going to be doing, knowing what the other side is going to be doing, people, skills, communication, I think, is a big part of it that you just mentioned trustworthiness. What about credibility with the other side? What part does that play in it? If, if you, if you're known as somebody who does what they say they're going to do, then is that, I imagine that that's helpful in most areas of the law, is that, does that apply in workers compensation
Speaker 2 05:51
as well? Absolutely. Workers comp is different than other areas of the law, like, say, for instance. And I tell people this all the time. You slip and fall at a retail store, let's just say, hypothetically, slip and fall at target as a customer, right? That's an all or nothing type situation, right? Where we're in a negligent state, and if you're partially negligent at all, you could recover nothing, and you could recover $100,000 you could cover a million dollars. You know, whatever the value of your case is that leads to a lot of contentiousness between the two sides, the two attorneys, because there's a lot on the line. And I'm not saying that there's not a lot on the line in comp, it's a different type of line, though, because typically there's going to be some semblance of recovery. It's just a matter of how much. It's very rare that there's a $0 nothing value case. There may be a nominal value case, but you're always going to, with few exceptions, recover something out of it. And so the question is, how much are you going to be able to recover? And a lot of that, in my opinion, does hinge on the credibility of the attorneys that are dealing with the case. If you have credibility with the other side, they're going to be more willing and able to listen to your arguments when you go to a mediation or when you eventually go to a hearing, or risk going to a hearing, I'd much rather go against a hearing. Go to a hearing against somebody that doesn't really have great experience or doesn't have great credibility, because their reputation is not only known amongst the bar in terms of the people that are practicing, but also up at the Industrial Commission right there, if you have respect, if you have credibility within the industry, people are going to respect and give credence to your opinion on a case and say, You know what? That's probably right. Or there are some defenses I didn't think about, or there are some issues I didn't think about that he brought up, and we should consider them. That's the key. I mean, it's, it's all a negotiation. When you're talking about 90% of cases settling before they ever go to a hearing. On TV, we see that going to a jury all the time the trial, and you imagine doing that in law school too, that you're always going to be litigating going it just doesn't happen in the real world. It doesn't happen that much in workers comp, 75% of cases settle at mediation. Of those that don't, 90% overall, settle before you ever get to a hearing. It's very rare that you actually get to a hearing at the Industrial Commission, and so most of your cases are going to be resolved through negotiation, through the attorneys. And if your attorney doesn't have credibility, it's going to be hard for you to negotiate because the other side's not going to take you seriously. What
Speaker 1 08:24
part does preparation play in in resolving cases for clients quickly and for the most value,
Speaker 2 08:33
it's absolutely vital, and it's true on both sides, both for the attorney and for the employee, to be prepared early on, and there are different ways. I mean, I, as an attorney, I don't get a phone call typically, until weeks after an injury, maybe even months after an injury takes place. So there's preparation that needs to be done on the employee side before they even make a phone call to me. But from my standpoint, we're preparing from the time that we first pick up the phone in the office and start taking the information from from the potential client as to what's happening in the case. So being prepared. You have to be prepared if you want to have a successful outcome in your case.
Speaker 1 09:09
Thank you, Brian. In the next episode, we'll talk about the very first things that you should do after workplace accident. Thanks for joining us. Don't forget to subscribe and follow us to stay up to date with our weekly episodes. We'll see you next time you.
