Why is Mary Ann Stiles Smiling? by Robert Shapiro, Esq. (used with permission)

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ANSWER: Mary Ann Stiles believes "fixed" means getting rid of workers' lawyers by capping fees or abolishing hourly rates AND restricting total disability to only those workers who are paralyzed or brain-damaged!

There is no doubt that Associated Industries of Florida, the most powerful lobby group in Florida, hates lawyers who represent injured workers! They argue that lawyers for injured workers are simply not necessary and that Florida employers and their insurance companies will take "good care" (this year called "FAIR CARE" in legislation) of injured workers simply because the law requires it. If only life (and the law) were that simple!

Some employers and carriers are successful at getting around the law and depriving injured workers from benefits the law requires. Other employers and insurance companies simply break the law hoping they'll get away with it. In many cases, they do, and if Mary Ann Stiles has her way this legislative session, it will be OPEN SEASON on injured workers. Ask most injured workers and they'll tell you that they're made to feel like criminals by their employers, their insurance companies, and others being paid by the insurance company to undermine their medical care, their credibility, and worse, their hope for the future.

The sad reality is that an injured worker is marked as an "enemy" by their employer and insurance carrier almost from the first day of their injury. Insurance adjusters, nurse case managers, occupational doctors, rehabilitation counselors, surveillance detectives and legions of others who are trained to gain the trust of the injured worker, keep themselves busy behind the scenes seeking ways to minimize the claim cost, or even better, completely eliminate the worker's claim.

How?

Listed are just a few strategies taken from the insurance company claims manual:

(1) Using company clinics or other doctors who derive most of their patients from worker's compensation carriers to make sure that workers receive minimal care (also known as conservative care) and opinions favorable to the company, e.g., the worker's problems are due to pre-existing arthritis and not the injury, they can return to full duty with no restrictions, the workers is malingering or exaggerating their problems, etc.

(2) Telling their insured employers to create light-duty jobs for injured workers if only for a few weeks or months after which time they get fired or terminated with little or no legal recourse.

(3) Hiring nurses and detectives to spy on the injured workers to try to film the worker doing some physical activity, or gain personal information which might damage their credibility if a claim were made.

(4) Cutting off disability checks arbitrarily with no valid reason simply to force the worker back to work prematurely.

(5) Using stall tactics to withhold needed medical and indemnity benefits simply because statistics show that most workers will give up out of sheer frustration.

The ONLY way to fight back and level the playing field for injured workers is the hourly attorney fee without ridiculous CAPS of $5,000. Putting a "cap" on fees for workers' lawyers without a corresponding limit on the carrier or their lawyer is simply unfair and un-American. Passage of SB 1132 will result in the Texas phenomenon where, after similar "reform" was passed, the yellow pages list NO lawyer specializing in workers' comp and injured workers cannot find competent counsel to fight the insurance company.

PLEASE help Florida's workers by:
(1) Ensuring their right to total disability when they prove total disability per strict Social Security standards (existing law);
(2) Ensuring their right to competent counsel when benefits are improperly withheld by their employer's carrier.

AND HELP WIPE THAT BIG SMILE OFF MARY ANN STILES' FACE!!

VOTE "NO" ON CS/SB 1132!

Thank you for your attention.

Respectfully,
Robert Shapiro, Esquire
Proudly representing injured workers since 1977
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