Purvis Truck Driver Workers Comp Lawyer

Secrets of the second claim most Purvis truck driver injury lawyer offices never even mention exists.

Who else wants to know why your own employer’s insurance company treats a truck driver’s on-the-job crash like a routine paperwork claim instead of the two separate legal matters it actually is?

So. A commercial driver hurt in a crash while working almost always has two separate legal paths available at once, and a settlement mill that only pursues one of them is leaving real money on the table without ever telling the driver a second path even exists.

Terrence drives a delivery route through Purvis for a regional distribution company. Parked making a delivery on a quiet stretch of road, another motorist rear-ends his truck hard enough to throw him against the wheel. He never left his own employer’s vehicle, and the other driver was entirely at fault.

Why A Truck Driver’s On-The-Job Crash Is Two Legal Matters, Not One

Under Miss. Code Ann. Section 71-3-7(1), Terrence’s injury is compensable through his own employer’s workers comp coverage because it arose out of and in the course of his employment, regardless of who caused the crash. That claim is separate and independent from any liability claim against the other driver who rear-ended him. A worker in Terrence’s position can pursue his employer’s no-fault workers comp benefits and, at the same time, a separate third-party liability claim against the at-fault driver for damages workers comp doesn’t cover, like full pain and suffering. A settlement mill’s front desk staff frequently understands only one of these two claims, usually the simpler workers comp piece, and never raises the separate liability claim against the other driver at all.

See the Purvis Truck Accident Lawyer page for the separate third-party liability side of a claim like Terrence’s, since that claim runs on an entirely different legal track than the workers comp claim covered here.

The Evidence Fight On A Commercial Driver’s Workers Comp Claim

Here’s what the adjuster hopes Terrence never reads. Within days, his own employer’s carrier calls asking for a recorded statement, and the person answering isn’t always clear about which insurance company she actually represents, his employer’s or the at-fault driver’s, a confusion that works against Terrence either way. Surveillance is a real risk here too, since a carrier will film Terrence doing light activity weeks later and argue his neck and back injuries are minor, ignoring what his own treating physician actually documented. The Independent Medical Exam is the third trap, since the company’s own doctor gets paid to clear him for a return to driving duty sooner than is medically safe. This isn’t rare. This is what happens on nearly every commercial driver claim that comes through an office where the person taking the calls has never once explained the difference between the comp claim and the liability claim to the driver himself.

If The Insurance Company Blames An Old Injury

Say Terrence strained his neck on a prior job years earlier, fully healed with no lasting restriction. Under Section 71-3-7(2), the workers comp carrier can argue that old strain was a material contributing factor, but under Section 71-3-7(3)(b), only an Administrative Judge decides that percentage, never a secretary relaying whatever the adjuster told her to say. A driver who accepts an apportionment number relayed secondhand, from someone with no legal authority to negotiate it, loses real money before either of his two separate claims ever gets a fair look.

What A Commercial Driver’s Workers Comp Claim Is Actually Worth

Terrence’s workers comp benefits, medical treatment and 66-2/3% wage-loss compensation, run independent of whatever his separate liability claim against the at-fault driver eventually recovers. Contested hearings on a disputed commercial driver workers comp claim in this county are physically held at the Lamar County Circuit Court, 203 Main Street, Purvis, and the person Terrence has been talking to on the phone about his claim has usually never once set foot in that building. There is a coordination mistake specific to a dual-claim situation like Terrence’s that costs drivers real money, and it rarely gets explained until it is too late to fix. A settlement of the third-party liability claim can trigger a subrogation right, meaning the workers comp carrier may be entitled to reimbursement from that liability settlement for benefits it already paid. Handled correctly, this reimbursement is calculated fairly and often reduced to account for attorney fees and costs already spent pursuing the recovery in the first place. Handled by an office that never coordinates the two claims together, a driver can end up settling the liability case first, without accounting for the workers comp lien at all, and later discover a significant chunk of that recovery is owed back to the comp carrier, a surprise that a lawyer actually managing both claims together would have flagged and negotiated down from the very beginning, not left for Terrence to discover only after the settlement money was already spent.

Other Real Purvis Scenarios Behind A Truck Driver’s Workers Comp Claim

A log truck driver hauling timber off a rural Lamar County road jackknifes avoiding a deer in the roadway and suffers a shoulder injury bracing against the wheel. A regional freight driver strains his back securing a load with a ratchet strap that suddenly gives way. A local delivery driver twists an ankle stepping down awkwardly from a box truck’s cab onto uneven gravel at a rural delivery stop. Different mechanisms, the same dual-claim structure applies whenever a third party is involved, and the same risk that a secretary, not a lawyer, decides which claims actually get pursued.

I guarantee you get more money than me. In writing, before we start. And on your TTD check while this claim is pending, I take $0.00. Read the full Foster Fair Fee Guarantee and then ask your TV lawyer to match it in writing.

For the official state agency that administers this claim, see the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission.

The TV Lawyer’s Fee Betrayal, And The Secretary Who Never Mentions Your Second Claim

Ask yourself does it matter if the person handling Terrence’s file even understands the difference between his workers comp claim and his separate liability claim against the other driver, or just processes whichever one is simpler to close. Ask yourself does it matter if he’s ever once spoken directly to the actual lawyer whose name is on the billboard about pursuing both claims at the same time. For most callers to a volume shop, the honest answer to that last one is no, and it stays no through the entire life of both claims.

Has the lawyer himself ever personally coordinated a workers comp claim alongside a separate third-party liability claim for the same crash. Has he ever actually cross examined an IME doctor about a return-to-driving-duty finding under oath. Has he ever picked up the phone when Terrence called with a real question about either of his two claims. For most TV lawyers, the honest answer to all three is no, and the secretary fielding those calls knows it better than anyone.

Now watch what happens to Terrence’s settlement anyway. There’s the intake fee, taken by the same office that never explained he had two separate claims. Then a “claims coordination fee,” for work that should have included pursuing the liability claim from day one but often doesn’t. Then a fee for reviewing that fee, stacked on top of a settlement that may have left an entire second claim unpursued. That’s not two hundred dollars quietly disappearing. That’s not two thousand. That’s an entire separate legal claim against the driver who actually caused the crash, potentially never filed at all. Ask your lawyer directly whether he’s pursuing both claims, by name, in writing. Go ahead. Ask him. Listen to the answer. This isn’t rare. It’s the standard gap at nearly every volume shop that runs commercial driver claims through secretaries instead of lawyers who actually coordinate both sides.

Frequently Asked Questions About Purvis Truck Driver Workers Comp Claims

P.S. Before you assume you only have one claim, get the free book first. It names the notice deadline, the filing deadline, and exactly who is not protecting you from either one. Or reach the office at 1-833-J-Foster (1-833-536-7837).