I don’t normally post quick thoughts and comments on my blog. However, today I helped change an individual’s life after our office delivered him a big win, following years of fighting for his rights as an injured worker under the Industrial Insurance Act in Washington State.

What I do

For the record, I get questions about my job all the time. People ask me whether I see a lot of folks faking it or taking advantage of the system. And my answer is: Yes, sometimes I do come across those people, and I do my best to avoid representing them. However, as a Washington State Workers’ Compensation attorney, the vast majority of my clients are people who are fighting for benefits they should be provided under our Industrial Insurance Act based on premiums that have already been paid into the system.

Today’s story

To share today’s personal experience, note that I am not saying anything here that is not part of the public record at this point. Right now my associate is meeting with a client that was abruptly terminated from benefits a number of years ago. While we’ve been fighting through the slow moving legal process, the client became homeless and turned to street drugs to self medicate. Despite some serious preexisting problems, he was a successful union laborer before losing his only career to a significant injury.

A jury recently found that he should be provided with ALL of the years of back benefits and a pension going forward. Before he could accept these benefits, we had to help him get an ID (not necessarily easy for someone who has been homeless for over 4 years). Now that he has the ID, my associate will be taking him to the bank to open a new account so that he can apply for stable housing and get access to the medical treatment he needs. Today he walked into our office soaking wet, filthy and tired. His life is about to change. Now you know, this is why I do what I do. (Most, if not all of the credit goes to my new associate who took this case to a jury just a month after starting with us. However, we are all proud of what we collectively accomplished for this man over our years of representing him.)

We are here for injured workers in Washington State, and we do our best to help…