Settlements

This change applies to injuries that happen after September 1, 2011.

The AMA guidelines are a dramatic change from what was the old law in Illinois.

The guidelines focus on strict objective limitations.

They result in much lower settlement values than Illinois is used to.

However, the new Work Comp law leaves open the possibility increasing the settlement vale because it takes into account the injured worker’s occupation, age, future earning capacity, and evidence of disability in the medical records.

No single factor controls.

The problem will be that no one will know the value of the settlement in the beginning.

This will result in the Work Comp insurance company making low settlement offers, and the need for more trials to determine how Arbitrators are going to value the new cases.

If the changes being discussed are passed the following will result:

*Settlements will be much lower;

*Your doctor choices will be limited;

*The amounts paid to doctors will be much lower; and

*Insurance companies will probably delay paying bills and workers’ compensation payments and dispute more cases.

More questions about your Work Comp case? Feel free to call Illinois Workers Comp Lawyer Dirk May at 309-827-4371.