The Four Stages of a Contested Workers Comp Claim
If you are receiving a weekly check and your medical bills are being paid, you may expect everything to continue going smoothly. At some point, however, your case may be contested and have to be resolved at the Department of Industrial Accidents. Some cases are contested from the beginning, with the employer refusing to take any responsibility for the injury. In other cases, insurance companies wait to see if you will recover and return quickly to work. If you don't, they may contest the claim. You will receive a letter in the mail with the date and time that you must appear at your local office of the Department of Industrial Accidents.Stage 1: Conciliation
Don't worry too much about this step. A conciliation is an informal meeting at which your lawyer, the insurance company's lawyer and a conciliator from the DIA try to reach an agreement about your claim. In most cases, you say nothing during the conciliation. In our experience, very few cases are resolved at this stage.
Stage 2: Conference
If nothing is resolved at the conciliation, your case advances to the conference. The letter that notifies you of your conference date will also tell you the name of the judge to which your case has been assigned. The name of the judge may be significant. Some judges are sympathetic toward people who are ill or injured; others have the same negative views of injured workers as the general population. They may be looking for malingerers or believe that "everyone can do something." Asked your lawyer or other injured workers to find out what type of judge is handling your case.