Previous Injury Affecting Illinois Workers Comp Claim
This week we are continuing our special “Ask the Chicago Personal Injury Attorney” segment.
Today’s question: “I hurt my back years ago and now my workers’ comp carrier wants to use that as an excuse not to pay for a new back injury I recently had on the job. Can they do that?”
Illinois Personal Injury Lawyer: “The injured worker does bear the burden of proving every element of his case. That includes what we call “causal connection”. Causal connection means that your condition of ill-being (in your case, a back injury) is related to some activity, accident or event that occurred at work. If your employer chooses to dispute it, they’ve got to have a basis to do so. It’s not enough to simply take the position that you haven’t proven the case to their satisfaction.
Chicago personal injury attorneys who specialize in Worker’s comp cases frequently see disputes where the injured worker had some pre-existing condition. The burden of proof requires that your pre-existing condition was aggravated or accelerated by the work activity.
The employer takes you as they find you. So, if you happen to have a so-called “bad back” when you begin working on the job, and then you have some work accident or event that worsens that pre-existing condition, that’s a perfectly clean case. And, that’s a case you should win at the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission, which is the court that hears these cases.
Generally speaking, if you’re free of treatment, and free of symptoms (or relatively free of symptoms), for a significant period of time, and then you have a work injury that causes the renewed onset of those symptoms, you should win your case.”
For more information about Worker’s Compensation cases in Illinois, contact a Chicago personal injury attorney today.
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