Anyone receive a worker's comp permanent partial disability settlement for an injury to your dominant hand?

Question

I've lost 20% range of motion with my dominant hand and 20 % lost ronge of motion on my dominant thumb. Has anyone received a worker's comp permanent partial disability settlement from an insurer? Anyone in Illinois? They will be offering me one soon and I'm curious as to what other people have received for a similar injury. Thanks for the info.

Answer 1

First off, you can not compare your claim to anyone else's so it's not fair to try to compare someone else's settlement amount to that of your own. Each claim is individual and settled on it's own merit's, not someone else's injury. There is SOO much more to an injury than 20% range of motion loss.

As for your disability, "range of motion" is too generic. What can you specifically NOT do with your dominate hand? Can you write? Can you dress yourself? Can you drive? Can you feed yourself? How has this affected your job? Can you not do your job or are you having to change jobs? (There's more value to a claim if you are a stenographer then let's say, a professional dog walker.) These questions may sound silly, but the answers to these questions help determine the value of your claim.

The only thing you can do is hear the offer and either accept it or reject it. If you reject you should be prepared to explain why and then counter the offer. Just remember however, the claim isn't settled until 1) you accept the offer & receive compensation or 2) file suit to protect the statue of limitations for your claim.

And one more thing...if you are even thinking about hiring an attorney....they can't do anything for you that you are not capable of doing for yourself. They'll take 1/3 of your settlement and tell you to have a nice day. They aren't looking out for your interests, they are only looking to see how much of YOUR money they can get ahold of. Hiring an attorney in no way adds value to your claim.

Answer 2

Just a quick thought: are you sure you want to cash a check that large? Walking around with $40K would be very risky. If you don't have an account at a specific bank, most banks will not cash checks without a waiting period - especially a check that high. You could see if your bank has any ATMs in the area, or if they offer "remote deposit capture" where you can scan the check and e-mail it to them (you still sometimes have to mail them a copy or take it into a branch eventually, but that would get the money into your account). Then you could wire yourself the money - but again, it would be very insecure carrying that kind of cash. Good luck!