Illinois Lawyer Referrals and Legal Guidance
Lake County Workers’ Compensation Cases
Since 2001, findgreatlawyers.com has been the leading resource for Illinois attorney referrals and legal guidance. When you contact our office you speak with a lawyer for free who will answer any questions that you have and if necessary refer you to a lawyer that best fits your needs. We help in all areas of Illinois law including workers compensation claims. If you need our assistance do not hesitate to call us at (312) 346-5320. If you would like more information about Lake County workers’ compensation cases please read on.
Injuries that happen on the job in Lake County are handled through the Workers’ Compensation Commission in Waukegan. There is one Arbitrator that decides cases over a 10 day period every month. The hearings take place at the Lake County Courthouse in the jury assembly room at 18 N. County Road. Please note that although the cases are heard at the courthouse, filing a workers’ compensation claim is not a lawsuit.
On average the Arbitrator for Waukegan workers’ compensation claims has approximately 1,600 cases on his docket every month. One day a month people with injuries can request that the Arbitrator give him/her a trial date and then over nine days the trials can take place. This is called a status hearing. There are that many cases because all Lake County work accident claims are heard at the same location. In other words, if you have carpal tunnel from working in Highland Park as a secretary or herniated disc in your back from working as a laborer in Gurnee you will be going to the same place.
Despite the large number of cases that could be heard every month, most of them are simply continued until to the next status hearing. This is because either there are no problems with your case or your attorney isn’t prepared to actually go to trial. Quite often job injury lawyers will request a trial and a trial date will be set, but in reality all they want to do is either impress their client or talk with the attorney for the insurance company about the case. You can only really go to trial if all of the legwork has been done, often including taking the deposition of your doctor as to the nature of your injury.
Unlike family law or criminal cases, most of the attorneys that handle job injury cases in Waukegan are actually based out of Chicago. The reason for that is because it is much easier to have a law practice that is solely dedicated to representing injured workers if you are in Chicago where there the majority of the cases get heard. If you live in Lake County you would never have to travel to Chicago to hire a workers comp attorney, but it may be in your best interest to get one from there, especially if you have a major injury or a complex case. That is not to say that a lawyer who also handles personal injury, traffic and other cases can’t get a good result for you. Rather, it is our strong opinion that you should hire the attorney that gives you the best chance for success. We feel your best chance for success is someone who only handles work injuries, regularly appears before the one Arbitrator in Waukegan and is respected by the insurance companies.
Our philosophy on finding an attorney doesn’t guarantee you a result, but if you were a friend or family member of ours this is the same advice you would receive. In addition, lawyer fees in Illinois work injury cases are 20% of what they recover at the end of the case so there is no reason to worry about hiring a lawyer in Chicago where fees are normally more expensive in other cases.
We often get asked about how long a case will take. The simple answer is that every case is different, but if your benefits are being denied unjustly, it shouldn’t take your attorney more than 3-5 months in most matters to get your claim before an Arbitrator. Again this is why it’s important to hire a lawyer who only handles work injuries. Not only are they likely to know the law better, but they also likely have more experience in getting a case ready.
If any of this is confusing or if you have any questions, you are welcome to contact our office and speak to one our lawyers for free at any time. We promise to listen to what you have to say and point you in the right direction.
Since 2001 findgreatlawyers.com has helped more than 100,000 with their Illinois legal matters including people who were looking for Waukegan workers’ compensation lawyers. See for yourself why our users feel that access to our site is like having a lawyer in the family.