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[GRAPHIC: Dugan & Associates, P.C., 1-877-99DUGAN, Workers' Compensation]
MITCH DUGAN: My law firm Dugan and Associates I started about eight years ago. I've been practicing law for 20 years. I focus on worker's compensation cases, people are hurt at work, injured on the job. We have a whole team of lawyers and staff on your side. There's myself and three other attorneys, secretaries, law clerks, we have a private investigator.
A typical worker's compensation case that gets in litigation, which is obviously what we do, involves either attempting to get somebody benefits or maintain their benefits. Worker's compensation involves every type of injury that you can think of. You may have an injury where somebody bends over at work, picks up something, and herniates a disk in their back or maybe just tears or pulls a muscle in their back. We see a whole host of these issues.
If somebody gets hurt at work, one of the first things they need to do is report the injury to someone in a supervisory capacity. They need to seek proper medical treatment. If it's an emergency situation, go to the emergency room. You can report the injury after that. Most times it happens on the job. The employer's going to be present. And they'll know about the injury because they'll see the injury happen.
People are concerned primarily about their health, obviously. Our goal is to fight to help them get what they deserve so that they can get on, get healthy, and if they're able to go back to work, help them in that situation. If not, they want to move on with their life and get a lump-sum settlement, we help them with that situation.
People are concerned about their finances. They're not getting paid their salary. Or they're not getting paid their worker's comp. They're having difficulties with their medical bills getting paid. That's what we fight for them to get. During this timeframe, they may be using their finances. They may be using loans. They may be borrowing off the family. It's a very, very difficult time.
Every case varies in its length. And certainly, we cannot predict how long a case will go. Our goal is to bring the case as quickly to a conclusion to the benefit of our client as we can. That's not always the goal of the insurance carriers.
If our client is so inclined, we work to try to get them a lump-sum settlement. Oftentimes, a lump-sum settlement of that individual's case helps them move on with their life. And oftentimes, they may do better than if they had gone through the litigation process.
The way the fee works in our office is there's no fee unless there's recovery made. In terms of expenses, we advance the cost. What that means is, is we pay for the doctor's to testify if necessary. We pay for the court reporter transcripts. We pay for the doctor's records. If we win the case, that is reimbursed to us by the worker's comp insurance company. That is not paid by the client. We do not charge the client for those types of expenses.
If you need a lawyer in a worker's compensation case, call my office. You can call me, Mitch Dugan, at 1-877-99-DUGAN. Or you can find us on the internet at duganandassociates.com.
[GRAPHIC: Dugan & Associates, P.C., 1-877-99DUGAN, Workers' Compensation]
