Tampa Pre-Existing Conditions Lawyer
Sometimes, an illness or injury is clearly connected to an incident at work. Other times, the link is not so apparent. For example, a victim may lose her hearing partially because of her work environment and partially because of loud non-work noises. Or, a man with a prior knee injury may re-injure that joint at work. Full workers’ compensation benefits may still be available in cases like these, depending on the MCC issue.
Aggressive insurance companies often use pre-existing conditions as an excuse to deny benefits. So, workers need equally aggressive attorneys, like the ones at Barbas Nuñez Sanders Butler & Hovsepian, to level the playing field. Our professional team uses proven methods to collect the evidence necessary to establish your claim. Then, we fight for the benefits you deserve. We’re pleased to say that the results we obtain often exceed our clients’ expectations.
The Major Contributing Cause in Tampa Workers’ Compensation Claims
In general, if the job injury was more than 50 percent responsible for the overall injury, workers’ compensation benefits are available. These benefits include:
- Lost Wages: Victims who sustain temporary disabilities usually receive two-thirds of their average weekly wage for up to five years. Victims with permanent disabilities usually receive a payment based on a number of factors, such as their salary amounts and the extent of their disabilities.
- Medical Bills: Major illnesses or injuries could mean tens of thousands of dollars, or even more, in doctor bills and other medical expenses. Workers’ compensation pays for all these costs, provided that they were medically necessary.
In some cases, such as an injury due to a defective product or an illness caused by the employer’s extreme recklessness, additional compensation may be available.
The MCC rule in Florida workers’ compensation cases is basically an offshoot of the eggshell skull rule in personal injury and other negligence cases. Essentially, both negligence defendants and workers’ compensation employers must take victims as they find them. If they have “eggshell skulls” or other pre-existing conditions which make them prone to injury, the employer cannot receive a windfall because of the worker’s prior disability.
Some Examples of Tampa’s MCC Rule
Establishing the work-related cause as the MCC is not a matter of speculation. Victim/plaintiffs must have evidence to support their claims. Fortunately, an experienced Tampa workers’ compensation attorney knows how to obtain this evidence.
In the above hearing loss example, not all kinds of deafness are created equally. A physician can usually trace the cause to a specific period of time or even a specific noise.
The above knee example works the same way. Perhaps the knee pain and lack of mobility was much worse following the workplace injury than it was at the time of the prior injury. Or, perhaps pain presents on a different part of the knee.
The more available records there are from the previous incident, the easier your workers’ compensation claim is to prove. If the prior claim also involved workers’ compensation, that is even better.
Reach Out to Tenacious Lawyers
Workers’ compensation benefits may be available even in re-injury cases. For a free consultation with an experienced workers’ compensation attorney in Tampa, contact Barbas Nuñez Sanders Butler & Hovsepian. We have offices in Sarasota, Land O’ Lakes, St. Petersburg, and Tampa.
