Compassion

My apologies for getting this out late, but we have had some unexpected news in my family. On the morning of September 11, 2017, I lost my grandmother. Therefore 9/11, a day already  synonymous with heart-break and loss, will be even a more memorable day in my life. After fighting sickness for a year, my Jojo took her last breath and went to be with her heavenly Father.

    My grandmother was a caring woman, but she also had a sense of humor. The following Wednesday, my entire family lined the front of the church for a visitation ceremony immediately preceding the funeral. As the line formed, my dad stood to my left, and on my right, in order, was my brother, sister and mom.

    The visitors began to line up through the church, one by one. Many of the people I had known all of my life having grown up in a small community, but others I had not met before. One particular lady who I had never met, was hunched over slowly making her way through the line to give kind words to the family. She spoke to my mother, followed by my siblings, before she approached me. She seemed like a nice woman, and she could not have been a day over 100. She leaned in to hug my neck and asked: “now, you must be Tami’s better half?”

    To be clear, Tami is not my wife. Tami is my mom. I am 32 years of age. My mom is not. While my mom still looks incredible, I would not have thought anyone would have ever mistaken me as her husband. This was the day after my grandfather’s friend, who was equally as old as Methuselah, asked if Stephanie, my wife, was my daughter. Again, my wife is beautiful and does not show her age, but I obviously do. Nobody told me when I graduated law school that every year would add a decade to my life. I certainly hope Jojo got a laugh at my expense like everyone else.

    The events of this week allowed me the opportunity to be around family and reflect on someone who so deeply impacted my life and who was as compassionate as anyone I know. In this field, I have grown cold and calloused in my years of practice. Many of you have as well. I know because we speak often about claims. It is easy to become this way after practicing workers’ compensation defense as so many claimants fake injuries or try to work the system to avoid working while still drawing a check. And for those people, we should continue to be cold.

    However, I am often reminded that not everyone fits that mold. We all know workers’ compensation is not a “get rich quick” scheme. It is designed to pay enough benefits to an injured worker so that hopefully they can get the medical treatment they need to get back to work. If they suffer from some permanent disability, they should receive an award commensurate with the laws of the State.

    Just last week, I presented to the Commission a compromise settlement for approval purposes. For various reasons, the settlement was rejected. As I was walking the claimant and his wife to the door, he pulled me aside. He asked how long it would be until he could get his money, to which I replied that I simply did not know. As he put it, “I am low.” I knew exactly what he meant.

    Plenty of people across the country live paycheck to paycheck. In fact, I would be willing to say the majority of the US population. For 2017, the maximum a claimant in MS can make for indemnity wages is $477.82 per week. Many of my claimants make well in excess of that, with some making over $1,000/week. We take a person’s average weekly wage and pay two-thirds of that unless that total exceeds the weekly maximum for the calendar year of the injury. In that case, they will receive the weekly maximum no matter how much they made pre-injury.

    From an indemnity standpoint alone, that can be significant. For many of you, and many claimants as well, it would be very difficult to maintain your lifestyle on that amount of money. I cannot tell you how many claimants I have met with at the Commission for a Settlement Hearing who have told me they were on the verge of losing everything if the settlement was not approved.

    That does not even factor in medical treatment and/or exposure. While we all know of claimants who are malingering, many of the people we deal with are in serious pain and want nothing more than to get back their health and life. It truly is a traumatic life experience for many people, and I, for one, oftentimes get so caught up in “winning” that I do not see the forest for the trees. While we should be advocating for our clients to the best of our abilities, we, myself included, need to always remember these claimants are people too. While some people will always try to cheat the system for a dollar, there are plenty of good, hard-working people out there trying to get better and get their lives back on track.

    The old saying goes, “don’t let one bad apple spoil the barrel.” We all know there are claimants in the system trying to be a “career claimant”, but do not use that bad example to spoil the reputation of good, hard-working employees who deserve to be treated the way we would hope to be treated in their situation.

P.S. I will be in attendance for the MASI Fall Conference next week. It is being held in Biloxi, MS at the Beau Rivage. For anyone who has not signed up and wants to go, please sign up at the link below. I plan to be there all three days, so if anyone would like to meet up over a meal, or just say hello, please reach out to me.

http://masiweb.org/