The Importance of Securing a Comprehensive Workers’ Compensation Settlement

Oct 6, 2017 | Claims Process

The Importance of Securing a Comprehensive Workers’ Compensation Settlement – If you are eligible for workers’ compensation benefits due to a work injury, the payments and medical care you receive are typically finite. Once your treating physician okays your ability to return to work, your benefits end. This is the situation in temporary disability cases. But what if you suffer a permanent disability?

The Importance of Securing a Comprehensive Workers’ Compensation Settlement

Maximum Medical Improvement

At some stage during your care, you will reach a point where your recovery is at an endpoint. This means that you are not likely to continue improving, even if you are not back to your pre-injury state. If your injury was severe, it’s possible that you may not be physically able to return to the workforce. When this is the case, you may continue receiving weekly benefits through worker’s compensation or request a lump sum, subject to a 4% per annum reduction. Some permanently injured workers may want to consider a settlement that covers future financial and medical needs.

Normally, in a settlement arrangement, the employer and insurer pay a certain sum of money to the injured worker to settle all past, present, and future financial obligations. In return for these settlement funds, the employee gives up any and all future demands and claims against them. Therefore, a workers’ compensation settlement must be very carefully negotiated to ensure that all your current and future needs will continue to be met.

When you sign a settlement agreement, you give up the following rights under the workers’ compensation benefits system:

Temporary disability benefits
Permanent disability benefits
Permanent total disability benefits
Future medical treatment
Disfigurement compensation
Penalty fees against the insurance company and/or your employer
The right to reopen your case
The right to make any claims for additional benefits for unknown injuries

Your attorney should be able to negotiate these expenses, claims, and potentialities into your settlement agreement because you only get one shot at this. Barring very minute exceptions, once you sign your settlement agreement, you are stuck with the consequences.

Reopening Your Settlement

In Colorado, when you enter into a settlement agreement, you give up the right to reopen your workers’ compensation case due to a mistake or if your condition worsens. It may be possible to reopen the settlement agreement, but only if you can prove fraud or that a mutual mistake of material fact occurred.

Mutual Mistake of Material Fact

This is a high bar to meet. The mistake must be one made by both sides of the agreement, and it must be an error that has an essential bearing on your case. Higher unanticipated bills or additional medical treatment requirements do not constitute a mutual mistake of material fact. Discovering a new medical problem may not qualify either, even if you discover that this previously unknown medical issue was the result of your settled work injury. Fortunately for Victor England, this wasn’t the case.

England v. Amerigas Propane

This case is an example of the stringent requirement for reopening a workers’ compensation settlement agreement. The Colorado Supreme Court decided the case on September 30, 2017. Truck driver England was injured in 2012, and he entered into a settlement agreement governed by the Colorado Worker’s Compensation Act. In 2013, England’s doctor discovered a previously undiagnosed stress fracture to his scapula. The settlement form used included a paragraph prohibiting a reopening of the settlement unless there was fraud or mutual mistake of material fact. England petitioned the ALJ to reopen his settlement and won, but the employer appealed, and the Court of Appeals ruled against the employee. England appealed to the Colorado Supreme Court, which finally agreed that this issue demonstrated a mutual mistake of material fact. His case was reversed and remanded.

We’re here to help.

Have you or a loved one suffered a workplace injury in Colorado? At Kaplan Morrell, we’re here to support you. Our expert team is just a call or text away at 970-356-9898. You can also easily reach out to a member of our Workers’ Compensation Claim team through our chat feature right here.

Rest assured, every consultation with us is not only free but also held in the strictest confidence. Let Kaplan Morrell guide you toward the peace of mind and benefits you deserve.