Who pays litigation costs in Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation?

• Owner
• 08/13/2018

You may have wondered: if you hurt yourself at work, your claim has been denied, and you hire a lawyer to file a petition for workers’ compensation benefits on your behalf, who is going to pay the costs that are incurred to present your case before the judge? If you hire the top-notch firm of Pearson Koutcher Law to represent you, don’t worry – it won’t be you; we will foot the costs for you.
To win your case, you will need a doctor to provide a deposition and describe the nature of the injuries you sustained at work, the medical treatment you have received, and an opinion on whether these injuries have prevented you from doing your job. In order for you to receive money – called wage loss benefits – your doctor will have to render the opinion that you are disabled because of your work injuries and the judge accepts the doctor’s opinions. (The insurance company for your employer will have you examined by a doctor of its choice, who likely will minimize the extent of your injuries and their effect on your ability to work.) Your doctor, depending on his or her specialty, will charge in the range of $3,000 to $5,000 for a deposition. If you sustained a multitude of injuries at work, and one doctor doesn’t have the expertise to address all of the injuries, you may need two doctors to testify for you. For example, if you sustain a concussion, and also injuries to your back and knees, you may need a neurologist to testify about your concussion and an orthopedic surgeon to describe the injuries to your back and knees. Under this scenario, the cost of the doctors’ depositions will likely be between $6,000 and $10,000. Pearson Koutcher Law will pay all of those costs for you.
There will also be costs to obtain medical records from your doctors as well as the transcripts of the hearings before the judge and depositions of the witnesses who testify in your case. When all of the evidence has been presented, an itemization of all of your costs – these are referred to as “litigation costs” – will be submitted to the judge. If you win your case, or there is a settlement in your case, the insurance company will be required to reimburse these litigation costs. If you hire Pearson Koutcher Law, in the unlikely event that you do not win your case, we will “eat” those costs. Therefore, win or lose, you will not be required to pay any of the costs required to litigate your case. All you will have to pay is a 20% attorneys’ fee if you win or settle your case.
You’re under enough stress and financial burden if you injure yourself at work and your claim is denied. In addition to experiencing pain which require you to see doctors and take medication, you won’t have a pay check coming in. We will relieve some of that stress by paying all of your costs. Most importantly, one of our very experienced and knowledgeable lawyers will zealously represent you in your case from beginning to end and obtain the best result for you in your workers’ compensation claim.