[painman2009]

So i have been on comp for almost 3 years. out of work for a little over 2. I was under the understanding that my atty would be paid by comp. I did not understand that this money would come from my awards ..ie my weakly check. Now don't get me wrong .. I believe my atty should be paid and I feel that it just should have been better explained . I have had many different hearings since my initial injury and I have won all of them.. and until this past july i didn't pay any thing.. but all of a sudden this july I requested another hearing and of course won again but then my next check was short 3/4 of the award.. OK my atty said they get paid from comp out of my award .. ok Im good with this as I called for the hearing but then a month later carrier requested a hearing.. my attorney was on vacation.. and they sent an affiliate in their place . they told me this atty would have been completely up to date on my case and he wold also explain what was going on when I got there. well this fill in knew nothing i n fact he asked me why we were there.. hello i only know that carrier requested a hearing and it said reason for request was causality to disability.. what does that mean. he doesn't know that either. he said he would find out. next thing I kno is Im being called into hearing room. I see the fill in atty and the court recorder.. and my wife and I walk in next.. so I go to sit on my rollater and my wife goes to sit next to me and he snaps at her and says sit at the wall. I ask whats going on he says shut up to me. then a woman starts to speak .. I see no- one else then another mans voice.. so I ask whats going on .. and again this "atty" tells me to shut up. thats when I notice a man on a tv and the woman's voice coming from a speaker next to a phone. OK the judge did a video hearing and the people who requested this hearing didn't even bother showing up. she did it by phone. but me the disabled person makes it in.."loaded with pain killers so I could make it but I made it" so I ask if i can know whats going on and why we are here .. "my"" atty says shut up I will explain later. so I ask why I can't know now. he ignored me so these people spoke. and then the judge said we will put hearing on hold till october. ok I'm lost so when e get outside of hearing I ask again and the atty instead of explaining said ITS COMP> NOT EVERYTHING MAKES SENSE>> then he says when we are in the hearing room the only people who speak are the attys and judge... ok so why do i show at all. so after all that my next comp check shows up 175 dllrs short and it said it was atty fee..... I wasn't represented appropriately. and I didn't request hearing ..plus comp carrier was still not explaining why they requested hearing but now I have to go back in october too.. how is that right.. and why should this money come from me especially when carrier is always ruled against... am I wrong?? I have contacted my real atty,s.. told them that if they go to vacation again I do "NOT" want this puts again. and my real atty,s still do not know what comp carrier is pulling.. shouldn't they have a clue???

[Jomar]

Sounds like they puled this because they knew your reg atty was going to be gone...
Seems like the fill in could have said "quiet please I'll explain later.". how unprofessional to say shut up to a client!

WC is paying the atty, yes out of your checks from wc, but that all should have been explained clearly to you, buy your atty before or when your signed the contract with them.

You may also get billed for phone conferences between attys. I did.
my atty "forgot" to add it into the case fees, so he billed me after I got the small settlement.

They have the injured workers over a barrel, because it's too hard to do our own claim, we're usually in pain and stressed already ,and they get a % of the payout , no matter what...

[GarytheSnail]

I had a "hearing" and my primary attorney did not know my case. We sat back in the Worker's comp DIR office waiting for the judge, the defense attorney showed up a hour late and nothing ever took place. To this day, the hearing was seven years ago this month. You must have a decent attorney because my attorney is unwilling to take anything before a judge, he rolls over and play's dead with each "treatment denial" my adjuster sends in the mail.

I am very bad tempered and I think I would have screamed at my attorney if he told me to "shut up", "what kind of employer allows his employee to abuse him or his wife?" the attorney is your employee and has not business being rude.