Tag Archives: Nebraska

Todd Bennett elected to The College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers

Posted on by

Todd Bennett was recently inducted into the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers

Congratulations to Todd D. Bennett of the Rehm Bennett Moore Rehm and Ockander Law Firm who was inducted as a Fellow into The College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers on March 16, 2019 in Miami, Florida.

The College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers has been established to honor those attorneys who have distinguished themselves in their practice in the field of workers’ compensation.  The college is a national organization that includes plaintiff’s attorneys, defense attorneys, judges and professors.

Fellows have been nominated for the outstanding traits they have developed in their practice of over 20 years representing injured workers and acting for the benefit of all in education, overseeing agencies and developing legislation. These individuals have convinced their peers, the bar, bench and public that they possess the highest professional qualifications, professional expertise and leadership. A Fellow has a thirst for knowledge in all areas of the law that affects their representation of their clients in Workers’ Compensation.

Todd Bennett joins his law partner, Rod Rehm, as the only two plaintiff’s attorneys in Nebraska who have been selected to the college. The other two members of the college from Nebraska, defense attorneys Dennis Riekenberg and Dallas Jones, were there in Miami when Todd was inducted into the college.

The offices of Rehm, Bennett, Moore & Rehm, which also sponsors the Trucker Lawyers website, are located in Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska. Five attorneys represent plaintiffs in workers’ compensation, personal injury, employment and Social Security disability claims. The firm’s lawyers have combined experience of more than 95 years of practice representing injured workers and truck drivers in Nebraska, Iowa and other states with Nebraska and Iowa jurisdiction. The lawyers regularly represent hurt truck drivers and often sue Crete Carrier Corporation, K&B Trucking, Werner Enterprises, UPS, and FedEx. Lawyers in the firm hold licenses in Nebraska and Iowa and are active in groups such as the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers, Workers' Injury Law & Advocacy Group (WILG), American Association for Justice (AAJ), the Nebraska Association of Trial Attorneys (NATA), and the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). We have the knowledge, experience and toughness to win rightful compensation for people who have been injured or mistreated.

This entry was posted in Nebraska, Workers Compensation and tagged , , , .

What happens when an injured worker misses a medical appointment?

Posted on by

Missed medical appointments can effect a workers’ compensation claim

Injured workers may have to deal with scheduling medical appointments with multiple providers and all the other juggling of work schedules, travel and child care arrangements that go with seeing multiple doctors.So what happens when an injured worker misses a medical appointment?

Neb. Rev. Stat. 48-120 allows the Nebraska workers’ compensation court to reduce benefits if an employee refuses medical treatment provided by an employer. Likewise Neb. Rev. Stat. 48-134 allows the court to suspend benefits due if an employee refuses a medical examination requested by the employer/insurer. But even if a court reduces benefits for a refusal of medical treatment or a medical examination, that refusal of treatment or an examination would not effect whether a claim is covered by workers’ compensation. 

Even if missed appointments don’t lead direcrly to denial of benefits, missing medical appointments can be used as a way to attack the credibility of an injured worker in court.

Unintentionally missing a medical appointment wouldn’t be a refusal of treatment, but I have seen insurers, particularly third-party claims administrators, deny claims where an employee misses a medical appointment for whatever reason.

Very rarely do I see my clients refuse medical treatment. Often times clients are talking to me until after care has been denied for whatever reason. But I often have clients who are suspicious of medical examinations set up by their employers for litigation purposes. I don’t blame them.

Why employers have broad authority to examine injured workers.

Neb. Rev. Stat. §48-134 requires injured workers to submit to a reasonable medical examination and deems an “unreasonable refusal” to submit to an examination as reason to deduct from compensation of an injury. The Nebraska Workers Compensation Court has also adopted the Nebraska Rules of Civil Discovery through NWCC Rule 4. Rule 6-335 allows a defendant to have the plaintiff to submit to an examination upon showing of just cause. A refusal of an injured worker to submit to an examination set up by their employer could also lead to financial sanctions under Rule 6-337.

Why it’s more difficult for an injured worker to get a medical examination in Nebraska.

In my experience, it is hard to quash a medical examination in a contested case. But if a plaintiff wants a medical examination under Neb. Rev. Stat. 48-134.01, it’s a different story. In order for the plaintiff to obtain a court ordered IME at the expense of the defendant, the plaintiff needs to establish medical causation and show there is some dispute between doctors that an independent medical examiner can resolve. Plaintiff’s can find some leverage under Neb. Rev. Stat. 48-120(5) which gives the court some authority to order medical examinations on their own outside the medical examination statutes at 48-134 and 48-134.01.

Recently an Ohio court suspended a claim for an employees refusal to submit to a psychological examination. I am fairly certain a Nebraska court would have ruled the same way as the Ohio court.

The recent Ohio case concerned an employee who was seeking medical treatment for psychological injuries. Such a case would be difficult to bring in Nebraska. In Nebraska when medical treatment is sole issue in the case, there must be a court-appointed medical examination before an employee can file a petition.

 

The offices of Rehm, Bennett, Moore & Rehm, which also sponsors the Trucker Lawyers website, are located in Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska. Five attorneys represent plaintiffs in workers’ compensation, personal injury, employment and Social Security disability claims. The firm’s lawyers have combined experience of more than 95 years of practice representing injured workers and truck drivers in Nebraska, Iowa and other states with Nebraska and Iowa jurisdiction. The lawyers regularly represent hurt truck drivers and often sue Crete Carrier Corporation, K&B Trucking, Werner Enterprises, UPS, and FedEx. Lawyers in the firm hold licenses in Nebraska and Iowa and are active in groups such as the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers, Workers' Injury Law & Advocacy Group (WILG), American Association for Justice (AAJ), the Nebraska Association of Trial Attorneys (NATA), and the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). We have the knowledge, experience and toughness to win rightful compensation for people who have been injured or mistreated.

This entry was posted in independent medical examination, medical treatment, Nebraska, Workers' Compensation and tagged , , , .

Are plaintiff’s lawyers unintentionally spreading myths about claimant fraud?

Posted on by

The Social Security Administration (SSA) plans to implement rules, that if enacted, would allow SSA to review social media posts by Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) applicants and beneficiaries to check for benefits fraud.

Administrative agencies and adjudicatory bodies usually have broad authority to enact procedural and evidentiary changes that can affect the substantive rights of claimants. In the case of federal executive agencies like the Social Security Administration, those rules can be challenged in the judiciary branch and struck down by Congress.

Complaints about social security fraud are evergreen and overblown because of the difficulty in getting SSDI. SSDI benefits became even harder to receive as a result of bi-partisan reforms signed by President Obama in 2015 that included the repeal of the so-called treating physician rule.

Complaints about social security fraud echo and overlap with complaints about workers’ compensation fraud. Workers’ compensation fraud is rare on the employee side and even the workers’ compensation industry admits that workers’ compensation fraud is at least as much of a problem on the employers’ side as it is with employees.

So why does the trope of the fraudulent disability or workers’ compensation claimant continue to exist? I would argue that the plaintiff’s bar unintentionally perpetuates the myth. Here is the how and why of how I think the plaintiff’s bar perpetuates the fraudulent claim trope.

Any good plaintiff’s lawyer is going to make sure they know about their client’s social media feeds and will warn their clients about social media use. Plaintiff’s lawyers often take this standard advice and publish it on blogs and their own social medial feeds. Whenever a story breaks about an injured worker or disability claimant being caught for fraud with a social medial post, plaintiff’s lawyers reflexively post “See what happens, don’t do that.” But by engaging with these stories, the plaintiff’s bar amplifies stories about claimant fraud which are admittedly rare.

So why do we as plaintiff’s lawyers post cotnent on social media that perpetuate myths about our clients? It’s hard to say, but I have a few theories. The first is there is a pressure for plaintiff’s lawyers to engage on social media. A lot of plaintiff’s attorneys view social media engagement as marketing and outsource marketing to vendors.  When plaintiff’s lawyers take a hands off approach to social media, content tends to reflect whoever is actually producing the content rather than the attorney.

If social media posting is viewed as marketing, then from a marketing perspective, attorneys might be afraid to alienate potential clients by directly challenging client assumptions about claimant fraud. If a plaintiff’s attorney posts a generic “Be careful on social media” post, the subtext is “I only represent legitimate claimants.” Plaintiff’s lawyers are trained to frame their cases in a way that appeals to jurors that are skeptical of litigation and those who bring lawsuits. While that approach often works with juries in individual cases, that assumption can amplify those same views if used as part of attorney marketing.

Plaintiff’s lawyers try to do what is best for their clients and practices. Even if plaintiff’s lawyers don’t push back against directly about stereotypes about their clients and practices in their marketing, many of us push back against harmful laws and regulations on a state and federal level.  Social media is still a relatively new platform that has given many firms a way to engage with the public in a cost-effective way. We as plaintiff’s lawyers should use this new platform to confront negative stereotypes about our practices rather than unintentionally perpetuating harmful stereotypes.

The offices of Rehm, Bennett, Moore & Rehm, which also sponsors the Trucker Lawyers website, are located in Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska. Five attorneys represent plaintiffs in workers’ compensation, personal injury, employment and Social Security disability claims. The firm’s lawyers have combined experience of more than 95 years of practice representing injured workers and truck drivers in Nebraska, Iowa and other states with Nebraska and Iowa jurisdiction. The lawyers regularly represent hurt truck drivers and often sue Crete Carrier Corporation, K&B Trucking, Werner Enterprises, UPS, and FedEx. Lawyers in the firm hold licenses in Nebraska and Iowa and are active in groups such as the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers, Workers' Injury Law & Advocacy Group (WILG), American Association for Justice (AAJ), the Nebraska Association of Trial Attorneys (NATA), and the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). We have the knowledge, experience and toughness to win rightful compensation for people who have been injured or mistreated.

This entry was posted in Nebraska, social security disability, Workers' Compensation and tagged , , , .

Could suicide nets be coming to American workplaces?

Posted on by

Coming to a worksite near you?

Stressed out and disaffected white collar workers seem to idealize blue collar work as physically taxing, but not mentally straining. The stress-free blue-collar worker is personified by the character Larry in the classic movie, Office Space.

But in reality, many blue-collar jobs can be every bit as mentally stressful, if not more stressful, than white-collar jobs. The Daily Beast ran an investigative report involving suicide attempts by workers in Amazon warehouses. The mental stress comes from trying to keep up with the fast pace of work.

The complaints of Amazon workers eerily mirror those of Chinese employees of Apple contractor Foxconn, which notoriously installed suicide prevention nets to prevent further employee suicides.

I hear many of the same complaints about stress from about the pace of work from my clients who work in meat packinghouses. A work injury can often worsen the stress of keeping up with production because a physical injury usually makes it harder to do a job. The Daily Beast article profiled one worker who suffered increased mental problems after an ankle injury on the job impacted his ability to keep up with the demands of his job.

Mental stress is part of my many workplaces, but purely mental injuries usually aren’t covered by workers’ compensation laws. For a mental injury to a warehouse worker in Nebraska to covered by workers’ compensation, it would have to be directly related to a physical injury. Mental stress from being unable to keep up with job demands due to a physical injury could be covered.

In Nebraska, certain workers such as police, firefighters and other first responders can collect workers’ compensation for purely mental injuries. But even before the Daily Beast article about extreme mental distress among Amazon employees, me and other workers’ compensation bloggers have questioned why so called mental-mental benefits are limited to first responders. I’ve taken a particular interest in convenience store clerks and other retail employees are often subject to or witnesses of violent crime.

My view is the answer to why so-called mental-mental benefits tend to be limited to first responders is politics. Retail workers and non-unionized warehouse workers don’t have the kind of clout as police officers or firefighters.

First responders deserve mental-mental workers’ compensation benefits because they can be subject to terrible trauma on the job. But other workers can be also be subject to serious mental distress on the job. That stress should be covered by workers’ compensation laws in Nebraska and other states.

The offices of Rehm, Bennett, Moore & Rehm, which also sponsors the Trucker Lawyers website, are located in Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska. Five attorneys represent plaintiffs in workers’ compensation, personal injury, employment and Social Security disability claims. The firm’s lawyers have combined experience of more than 95 years of practice representing injured workers and truck drivers in Nebraska, Iowa and other states with Nebraska and Iowa jurisdiction. The lawyers regularly represent hurt truck drivers and often sue Crete Carrier Corporation, K&B Trucking, Werner Enterprises, UPS, and FedEx. Lawyers in the firm hold licenses in Nebraska and Iowa and are active in groups such as the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers, Workers' Injury Law & Advocacy Group (WILG), American Association for Justice (AAJ), the Nebraska Association of Trial Attorneys (NATA), and the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). We have the knowledge, experience and toughness to win rightful compensation for people who have been injured or mistreated.

This entry was posted in mental distress, Mental Injuries, Nebraska, Workers' Compensation and tagged , , , .

Settling a workers’ compensation and wrongful termination case at the same time

Posted on by

Many employers want to settle all employment-related claims when they settle a workers’ compensation case

Clients often ask me, “If I settle my workers’ compensation case, can I still sue my employer for wrongful termination?” My answer is almost always yes. But for one unfortunate employee in Louisiana, it appears settling their workers’ compensation case may have doomed their wrongful termination case.

A federal district court in Louisiana held that a worker who settled their workers’ compensation case with a release that released all claims arising from their work injury was deemed to have settled their wrongful termination case under various civil rights laws.

The Louisiana decision raised the ire of some employee-side attorneys. Workers’ compensation laws and civil rights laws provide different remedies for different harms. A Minnesota court recently used this fundamental tenet of law to hold that a disability discrimination claim under their state’s civil rights laws was not barred by the exclusive remedy provision of their state’s workers’ compensation act.

But as a practical matter, some employers like to settle all claims arising out of the employment relationship when they settle a workers’ compensation case. In these cases there is usually consideration, or seperate amounts, to settle the workers’ compensation claim and the employment law claim. Sometimes this can be advantageous for a client. I am not sure of how the release was structured in the Louisiana case, but here is how I structure so-called global releases. In short, you need two releases: one for the workers’ compensation claim and one for the wrongful termination case.

Settling the workers’ compensation case

I wrote earlier about the so-called exclusive remedy of workers’ compensation. In Nebraska, that exclusive remedy also means the workers’ compensation court has limited jurisdiction. Nebraska courts have stated repeatedly that the Nebraska Workers’ Compensation Court can not adjudicate employment law cases because they are a court of limited jurisdiction. Neb. Rev. Stat. §48-139 gives the court jurisdiction over workers’ compensation settlements. 48-139 also dictates the language of workers’ compensation settlements, states when settlements must be approved by the court and mandates the filing of settlement papers with the court. In short, if the Nebraska Workers’ Compensation Court does not have jurisdiction to hear a wrongful termination or discrimination case, any settlements in that court should not effect any wrongful termination case or discrimination case.

Settling the wrongful termination or discrimination case

A settlement agreement in a wrongful termination case is a different document. Usually there is no requirement that it be filed or approved by a court. These agreements are often synonymous with severance agreements and oftentimes included language required by the Older Workers’ Benefit Protection Act if the employee is over 40 years old.

Settlement agreements in employment cases usually also talk mention tax liability. Tax liability is usually not mentioned in a workers’ compensation settlement as workers’ compensation benefits are almost never taxed. But settlement proceeds in a wrongful termination or discrimination case are usually taxable and those agreements should include some discussion of tax liability.

Sometimes employers will want a resignation as a condition of paying a settlement to an injured employee. If the employee is still working, that provision can be a deal breaker. But for an employee who has been terminated the extra money for a wrongful termination claim can be beneficial. Settling all claims at once may also help an employee minimize taxes by apportioning the majority of the value of the severance or employmennt law settlement into the non-taxable workers’ compensation settlement.

The offices of Rehm, Bennett, Moore & Rehm, which also sponsors the Trucker Lawyers website, are located in Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska. Five attorneys represent plaintiffs in workers’ compensation, personal injury, employment and Social Security disability claims. The firm’s lawyers have combined experience of more than 95 years of practice representing injured workers and truck drivers in Nebraska, Iowa and other states with Nebraska and Iowa jurisdiction. The lawyers regularly represent hurt truck drivers and often sue Crete Carrier Corporation, K&B Trucking, Werner Enterprises, UPS, and FedEx. Lawyers in the firm hold licenses in Nebraska and Iowa and are active in groups such as the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers, Workers' Injury Law & Advocacy Group (WILG), American Association for Justice (AAJ), the Nebraska Association of Trial Attorneys (NATA), and the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). We have the knowledge, experience and toughness to win rightful compensation for people who have been injured or mistreated.

This entry was posted in employment law, Nebraska, Workers Compensation and tagged , , , , , .

What is an accident in workers’ compensation?

Posted on by

Accidents happen is a common refrain. Most people believe that an accident is something that happens suddenly and was caused by carelessness. But nothing is quite that simple in the world of workers’ compensation.

            Nebraska law defines accident as happening suddenly and violently, being unexpected and having objective symptoms. Suddenly violently means that an injury 1) happens at a definite time 2) stops employment and 3) the employee stops work.

            This definition can cover all sorts of injures that might not be considered an accident by a lay person.

            .Examples of such cases are: (1) carpal tunnel from repeated use of hands, (2) rotator cuff shoulder injuries from repeated use of arms above the shoulder, (3) skin conditions from repeated exposure to chemicals, dust or heat, (4) blood clotting from long periods of sitting, (5) heart attack and stroke from unusually heavy exertion, (6) lung diseases from exposure to chemicals, grain dust and cement dust, (7) cancer from exposure to chemical or substance known to be carcinogens (8) death from a work related disease, (9) mental health disease caused by long term pain from a work related injury, disease or condition.

            In cases that aren’t thought about as “accidents” injured workers may not be clear in relating their symptoms to their work. There could also be confusion over the exact date of an injury. Some employers may even be confused about what happened – or if they acting in bad faith they may try to discipline an employee for not reporting the “accident” in a prompt manner. Injured workers can end up losing their job and or having their claim denied because they don’t understand what accident means in workers’ compensation law.

            Nebraska workers facing such challenges should contact a lawyer if they suffer from a disease or condition from work activity or environment mental factors. You may be entitled to benefits. Nebraska Workers compensation benefits are not limited to sudden accidents.

The offices of Rehm, Bennett, Moore & Rehm, which also sponsors the Trucker Lawyers website, are located in Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska. Five attorneys represent plaintiffs in workers’ compensation, personal injury, employment and Social Security disability claims. The firm’s lawyers have combined experience of more than 95 years of practice representing injured workers and truck drivers in Nebraska, Iowa and other states with Nebraska and Iowa jurisdiction. The lawyers regularly represent hurt truck drivers and often sue Crete Carrier Corporation, K&B Trucking, Werner Enterprises, UPS, and FedEx. Lawyers in the firm hold licenses in Nebraska and Iowa and are active in groups such as the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers, Workers' Injury Law & Advocacy Group (WILG), American Association for Justice (AAJ), the Nebraska Association of Trial Attorneys (NATA), and the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). We have the knowledge, experience and toughness to win rightful compensation for people who have been injured or mistreated.

This entry was posted in Nebraska, Workers' Compensation and tagged , , , , , .

What is an accident in workers’ compensation?

Posted on by

Accidents happen is a common refrain. Most people believe that an accident is something that happens suddenly and was caused by carelessness. But nothing is quite that simple in the world of workers’ compensation.

Nebraska law defines an accident as happening suddenly and violently, being unexpected and having objective symptoms. Suddenly violently means that an injury 1) happens at a definite time 2) stops employment and 3) the employee stops work.

This definition can cover all sorts of injures that might not be considered an accident by a lay person.

Examples of such cases are: (1) carpal tunnel from repeated use of hands, (2) rotator cuff shoulder injuries from repeated use of arms above the shoulder, (3) skin conditions from repeated exposure to chemicals, dust or heat, (4) blood clotting from long periods of sitting, (5) heart attack and stroke from unusually heavy exertion, (6) lung diseases from exposure to chemicals, grain dust and cement dust, (7) cancer from exposure to chemical or substance known to be carcinogens (8) death from a work related disease, (9) mental health disease caused by long term pain from a work related injury, disease or condition.

In cases that aren’t thought about as “accidents” injured workers may not be clear in relating their symptoms to their work. There could also be confusion over the exact date of an injury. Some employers may even be confused about what happened – or if they acting in bad faith they may try to discipline an employee for not reporting the “accident” in a prompt manner. Injured workers can end up losing their job and or having their claim denied because they don’t understand what accident means in workers’ compensation law.

Nebraska workers facing such challenges should contact a lawyer if they suffer from a disease or condition from work activity or environment mental factors. You may be entitled to benefits becuase Nebraska Workers compensation benefits are not limited to sudden accidents. You may also have a case for wrongful termination if you were fired for reporting a work accident.

The offices of Rehm, Bennett, Moore & Rehm, which also sponsors the Trucker Lawyers website, are located in Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska. Five attorneys represent plaintiffs in workers’ compensation, personal injury, employment and Social Security disability claims. The firm’s lawyers have combined experience of more than 95 years of practice representing injured workers and truck drivers in Nebraska, Iowa and other states with Nebraska and Iowa jurisdiction. The lawyers regularly represent hurt truck drivers and often sue Crete Carrier Corporation, K&B Trucking, Werner Enterprises, UPS, and FedEx. Lawyers in the firm hold licenses in Nebraska and Iowa and are active in groups such as the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers, Workers' Injury Law & Advocacy Group (WILG), American Association for Justice (AAJ), the Nebraska Association of Trial Attorneys (NATA), and the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). We have the knowledge, experience and toughness to win rightful compensation for people who have been injured or mistreated.

This entry was posted in Nebraska, Workers' Compensation and tagged , , , , , , , , .

Injury cases during a gender transition

Posted on by

A gender transition adds another wrinkle to an injury case

A work injury or injury caused someone else’s negligence can cause many complications. But what happens when an injury case comes up during when the accident victim is involved in a gender transition or has changed genders?

Every injury claim is different. A gender transition raises some unique issues in an injury case, but those issues are manageable and need not hurt a case with good communication between an attorney and client.

Here are a few issues about representing transgender individuals in injury cases that have come up in my experience.

Why is a gender transition relevant to an injury claim?

In short, an injury claimant gives up a lot of privacy when they make a claim. The Rules of Civil Discovery give insurance companies a lot of power to go through a claimant’s medical history. Some studies have shown a relation to spinal fractures and the hormones used in male to female transitions. In a case involving a back injury involving a man changing genders, the insurer may try to pin the cause of a fracture on hormones used in a gender transtion rather than an injury.

Many injury claims involve either a mental injury or a claim for pain and suffering. These claims can open up discovery about a claimant’s mental condition. Some, but not all transgender individuals, suffer from gender dysphoria which is anxiety or mental distress over a person’s gender identity. Again if a transgender individual is claiming mental distress from an injury, an insurer may try to shift that mental distress onto the gender dysphoria rather than the injury.

But many people, whether transgender or cisgender, have some preexisting physical and/or mental health conditions that could complicate an injury claim. Transgender individuals just have some conditions that are unique to them.

Attorneys for insurance companies frequently ask injury victims if they have used another name in the past. This question is asked to discover things like previous accidents, medical care and experience with the legal system. It’s not unusual for women to have a maiden name and a married name. In the case of a person who changed genders, the prior names question can reveal the individual changed genders.

Protecting privacy and dignity in litigation

Just because an injury claimant loses a lot of privacy in litigation, doesn’t mean they lose all privacy. Questions, whether in writing or oral can not be “unreasonably embarrassing”. If question are unreasonably embarrassing, an attorney can move for what is called a protective order to limit questioning. Discovery in an injury case gives insurance companies access to all sorts of information. But not all information about an individual may be relevant in their court case  An attorney can file a motion in limine to protect private details about a client’s life, like a gender transition, that might not be relevant to their claim from a jury.

In Nebraska and most states, motions in limine, may not be helpful to claimant’s in workers’ compensation cases because cases are heard by judges rather than juries. In other words, the finder of fact is going to know all sorts of things about a claimant that might not have anything to do with their work injury. In my experience, judges in the Nebraska workers’ compensation court do a good job of screening out irrelevant details in deciding cases. A gender transition may be of little relevance to a workers’ compensation claim. 

The importance of a trusting attorney-client relationship

Transgender individuals have unique issues in injury cases, but like any other client a trusting attorney-client relationship is key to a good case outcome. Communications between a client and attorney are almost always confidential. Part of the reason for that privilege is that client’s need to tell attorneys things they wouldn’t tell their co-workers, friends or even family. When it comes to issues of gender identity and gender transition, a workers’ compensation or personal injury attorney needs to know about those issues early in a case so they can effectively advocate for their transgender client. As an attorney, I don’t want to find out for the first time at my client’s deposition that they are undergoing a gender transition Even routine matters like be kept up to date on a name change can help an attorney update medical releases so they can update medical records.

Effective advocacy in an injury claim isn’t just getting a good case outcome, it also means protecting the privacy and dignity of the individual during the litigation process. Transgender clients should feel comfortable communicating about issues with gender identity with their attorney, so their attorney can protect their interests during litigation.

The offices of Rehm, Bennett, Moore & Rehm, which also sponsors the Trucker Lawyers website, are located in Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska. Five attorneys represent plaintiffs in workers’ compensation, personal injury, employment and Social Security disability claims. The firm’s lawyers have combined experience of more than 95 years of practice representing injured workers and truck drivers in Nebraska, Iowa and other states with Nebraska and Iowa jurisdiction. The lawyers regularly represent hurt truck drivers and often sue Crete Carrier Corporation, K&B Trucking, Werner Enterprises, UPS, and FedEx. Lawyers in the firm hold licenses in Nebraska and Iowa and are active in groups such as the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers, Workers' Injury Law & Advocacy Group (WILG), American Association for Justice (AAJ), the Nebraska Association of Trial Attorneys (NATA), and the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). We have the knowledge, experience and toughness to win rightful compensation for people who have been injured or mistreated.

This entry was posted in Nebraska, personal injury, Workers' Compensation and tagged , , , , .