Ty Wilson Law Podcast

Got a question the other day what is a  Nolle Prosqui? Well, a Nolle Prosqui  is Georgia's way of saying that they are dismissing the citation that means the prosecutors are no longer going to pursue prosecution of that particular crime whether it's a misdemeanor felony, what have you. And so if you receive something that says an order for Nolle Prosqui that is a dismissal in the eyes of the state of Georgia. So if you have questions with that you should contact either your attorney. If you have one obviously. Or you can always reach out to the court just confirm that is a dismissal. Chances are absolutely it is as long as the judges signed off on the order and it's file stamped. 

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Did you know that there is a provision under Georgia law where you can remove Seven Points off of your driving record? How do you do that? Well, you can go online to the Georgia Department Driver Services and look for approved defensive driving courses. If you attend one of those courses, and then turn that certificate of completion in to the Georgia Department of Driver Services. And ask them to reduce points. They'll reduce up to Seven Points.  

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We are back from a long hiatus.  We wanted to start off this podcast with some general help for anyone who is hiring an attorney.  We know hiring for an injury (what we do) is easy.  However, what should you consider if you are hiring an attorney who practices in another area of law?

Take listen, leave us comments and if you have any questions, please reach out to us via text or telephone call at 912-233-1100 or toll-free 866-937-5454.  Stay safe, Ty.

Hello. My name is Ty Wilson. And today we're talking about deposition preparation and some helpful information. And we're going to really cover today what you should not do if you're in a deposition. And we're going to start off by talking about answering the questions. You want to answer the questions that they ask, not the questions you think they want to know, the questions that they ask. And so what does that require? Well, that requires that you listen completely and attentively to the person who's asking the questions, which is going to be the opposing attorney. You want to listen, understand what they're saying. And if you don't understand, you want to ask. I'm sorry, I don't understand your question. Can you rephrase it? They will happily rephrase it. If they cannot rephrase it appropriately even your counsel may step in, as I've done in several cases. And so I think what they're asking you is to get clarification.
The most important thing is that you understand what it is that you are asking under oath prior to the deposition, you're going to be sworn under oath. Everything you say will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. And so that is something that is very important. It's very critical. And so you do not want to guess. You do not want to mislead. You do not want to lie, you want to be Truthful. And you want to get through the deposition as quickly as possible.
Some other notes that we've made is, you don't want to talk endlessly. So when they ask you a question, you want to answer that question and answer that question only. You don't want to dance around it. If they say, Tell us where you live. “123 Main street, Nowheresville, Georgia. 3000. Not the address. It's a Ranch style house, all brick all around. I've got a little Creek that runs in the backyard. Our neighbors are really great in that neighborhood.” No, answer the question, the question only. If they ask you where you live. The better answer actually is Nowheresville. Georgia, what is your address? Make them ask you the specifics that they're looking for. If they don't, that's on them. That's not on you. Don't volunteer. You're there because you're required to be there. You're not there because that other attorney is your buddy.

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So what can you expect at a workers compensation settlement mediation? Hello. My name is Ty Wilson. I'm a Georgia Workers compensation attorney. Our question is, what can I expect at my settlement mediation for workers compensation station? Well, hopefully you're going through this with an attorney. If not, you want to consider one. That attorney is going to help you maximize what recovery you could have in a settlement mediation. But it goes really before that, it goes into who are you treating with? Where is your care at? Have you used your one-time IME? Are you getting paid properly? These are things that the attorneys check and try to position the claim in the best light for you as the injured worker. But as to the settlement mediation itself, the goal at a settlement mediation is to settle your claim. 

If you have an attorney, they will go there with you, whether it's Zoom or in person. And then you will have the opposing attorney and you will have what is called a neutral mediator. There are different ways to do settlement mediations. There are private mediations where you have a private mediator, and then there is mediators provided by the Georgia State Board of Workers Compensation. Both of them are highly successful. And so that is not critical, whether it's private or whether it's through the board. The board encourages settlement as it helps reduce the case load and helps people move on their way and close claims. And so it's in everybody's best interest when you get to that point that the claim does settle. 

And so what is it that happens? Well, there's a couple of different ways that we've seen the mediators handle these. And I'm going to refer to in person, and then I'll back up and we'll cover Zoom mediations, which is obviously something that has developed ever since COVID. And so back prior to COVID, everyone would meet at the mediation office. Let's say at the state Board of Workers Compensation, everybody would meet in a conference room and it would be opposing counsel may be a representative from the employer. They're certainly able to show. And then your attorney yourself and the neutral mediator. We'd all get in the same room. Mediator would start and say a little bit about the mediation process and the fact that it's confidential and the fact that you cannot use any of this information to subpoena or pull somebody into a deposition for a hearing down the road. 

If the case does not settle on that particular day, it is like the mediation never occurred and you move on with your claim, same thing with the employer insurer. They move on with doing whatever it is that they're trying to do with the claim. So from that point on, your attorney will say some things on your behalf or you will if you don't have an attorney. And then the employer insurer attorney will say some things on the employer insurer's behalf and then the groups will separate. Typically, the mediator will go with the employer insurer, because typically, that's when they're seeking the initial offer from the employer insurer. 

If you're represented by my office, we send a demand ahead of time. So we started off the process with a number. They come back with a number and we're usually up here. They're usually down here and we go back and forth, back and forth, not necessarily in the middle. But we go back and that's the negotiation of the mediation. At some point in that mediation, you will come to a number where the opposing attorney will say, this is my limit of authority. This is all I have. Authority is a fancy word for money that the insurance company has allowed this attorney to try to settle this case with. 

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What if you're fired during the middle of your workers compensation claim? Hello. My name is Ty Wilson. I'm a Georgia worker's compensation attorney, and our question today is, what if you're fired during your workers’ compensation claim in Georgia? There are questions that I would have for you as far as how did the termination happen? Were you terminated because they could not accommodate you because of your injuries? And they told you just to go home. And they just said, you know what? This isn't going to work out. We have a construction job. We need you 100%. You hurt your back, we cannot have you back. So we're just going to part ways and they terminate you. Well, if that's how it happened. Good news. You should still get income benefits as long as you're not full duty, meaning weekly checks and still get medical care as it relates to your claim. And so that type of termination will not have a devastating effect on you. Obviously, if you can't go back to the work physically that you were able to do, then you're going to need to look for work at some point once you're physically able to do so down the road. 

Now, how does that situation change and make it unfavorable to you? Well, if you go back to work, they return you back to work. And we had one individual who was set up by several guys. They started messing with him, calling him names, pushing his buttons, and he lost it, and Lo and behold, right as he lost it. Someone managed to video him getting upset, making outrageous statements. Some included threats, just very angry at the situation. Provoked but nobody showed the provocation or the guys were provoking. But it was five of them. And basically what they single handedly did is they got him terminated for reasons completely unrelated to his work injury. So what does that do? Well, that gives the employer and the insurance company the opportunity to stop the weekly income benefits. And that can be devastating to your claim. You still arguably have medical care as it relates to your claim. And so your claim would be deemed a medical only claim moving forward. But without those income benefits, that can be detrimental, especially if you are physically unable to work or in a very light duty capacity where it will be very difficult to obtain work readily available.

And so that is the distinction. The distinction really is based upon where you terminated for your work injury or because of your work injury. Were you terminated for reasons unrelated to your work injury. And so if you return back to work, you really want to talk to a Georgia workers compensation attorney. If you have one, you talk to your attorney. If you don't have an attorney, you want to reach out, we give free consultations all the time. And a lot of the callers that we speak with, we do not represent and never will it just depends on where their case is. A lot of people are just calling to try to get information, and that's one of the reasons we have attempted to address this in this video. 

So it's critical that you understand the facts that relate to your claim because everybody's claim is different. We all work in different places. We all have different managers. We all have different personalities, and some of those personalities can be difficult. Adjuster can be difficult. Sometimes, adjuster can be great sometimes, but then the boss can be difficult. The boss can be great. The adjuster can be great. You have issues with the doctor. So there's a lot of different moving parts with these work injury claims. 

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So what happens with your work injury if you don't get better? Hello. My name is Ty Wilson. I'm a Georgia workers compensation attorney, practicing law in the state of Georgia. And our topic for today is what happens if you don't get better. We have several claims where workers were working very physical, heavy construction like jobs, got injured and cannot return back to that form of work. And that is quite a difficult thing for someone, especially if they've worked in a specialized field for an extended period of time. A lot of times. The first questions or responses we hear is who's going to hire somebody in their 50s who's been doing such and such for 30 years? And now I can't come back to that line of work. And that is actually a very good question. Regardless, the workers compensation system will not continue to pay you forever. And so there are things that you should consider doing that would be in your best interest. But it does get you out of the workers compensation system. 

Most of my clients are very happy to get out of the workers compensation system as they're very perturbed of being controlled. They receive their check one week on a Saturday, next week, it comes maybe the next Wednesday. And now it's like a week and a half. And there's a lot of sportsmanship with these checks. And of course, the insurance company says, Well, it's the postal service. Well, we've just received notice that the postal service will be delivering slower. So the question is, are we in for a lot more of that? Well, those are questions and answers to be determined at another time. But the reality is the doctors can only do so much. And once they get to where they don't believe they can help you, they're going to say, I'm sorry, you're as good as you're going to get. I believe you're at maximum medical improvement. 

Now, saying that does not mean that is the end of your care. It certainly implies that that is the end of your care. However, a lot of it depends upon the doctor, who is the doctor treating you? And is there someone who may be a better fit for your type of injury? A specialist in a different area depending upon the body part injured. However, if you have several doctors who have said, MMI. You're looking at a situation where then, yes, they are saying you have benefited as much as you're going to benefit through medicine. They don't believe there's anything medically speaking that they can do to improve your condition. And so you are at maximum medical improvement. And that just means that they don't think there's anything else they can do. They may keep you comfortable. They may send you to pain management, which will basically mask the pain and prevent you from feeling the discomfort that you feel. But it's not so much to get better and get back to work. 

And so once you're at that point where you're medically not improving, and there's nothing that the doctor can see that he thinks he can improve your condition. The question is, is there another doctor? If not, it may be the time to think about closing out your case and settling. If you're getting checks, they're once again not going to pay you forever. First of all, claim is typically 400 weeks. Unless there's a light duty restriction in what's called a WC 104 file, they can knock it down to 350 weeks. They can also knock down how much you're being paid if you're at the maximum rate after one year through what's called a change of condition, or WC 104. 

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Hello. My name is Ty Wilson. I'm a Georgia workers compensation attorney. And today what we're going to do is we're going to prepare you. We're going to give you a short version of preparing you for your deposition in a work injury claim. And so what that means is this is designed to give you something to look at right before you go into the deposition. You don't have a lot of time. You just need to know, really the essence of what you need to do and what you don't need to do. And so we will make longer videos with longer content on the times when you do have extra time to prepare for your depo. 

So let's start off with answering the question before you can answer the question, you want to listen until they have completely asked the question. You do not want to cut them off. You do not want to stop them. You do not want to assume you know where they're going with that question. What you want to do is you want to listen, and as soon as you hear them, stop the question. You want to count in your mind 1000 and 1002. Give them a second in that 2 seconds or 3 seconds or as long as you want it to be. That is your opportunity to develop your answer and respond. You want to respond yes or no when you can. But there will be questions that you are required to provide more of a long form answer, such as “explain how you got hurt”. Well, you can't say yes, obviously. And so you want to keep your responses as short and succinct as possible. 

The more you talk, the more doors you're going to open up, which will bring more questions from the opposing attorney. They're waiting there. They're listening. And if you go down a rabbit hole, they may take you down a rabbit hole may not mean anything, maybe a waste of time. It may be something that is very detrimental to your claim. And so it is best to keep things short, succinct respond to the question and the question only do not volunteer information. So I give three guidelines whenever you're going into a deposition. If they ask you a question that you do not understand, if you don't understand, you must have the wherewithal to let them know that you don't understand. The more important part is that you're not guessing at what it is that that attorney wants to know. You need to know for sure. You need to be very comfortable. That's what they're asking of you and then respond accordingly. 

Number two, if they ask you something that you don't remember, you can tell them you don't remember. However, if you don't remember at your deposition, they are locking down your testimony. So that what you say in your deposit is what they're going to hold you to if there is a hearing. And so you can't remember something new if there is a hearing. So what if there's something that you know the answer is written back at your house? It's on a piece of paper. It's somewhere else. You can find it, but you don't know it now. What you can do is you can respond accordingly. I know I have that information at my house. I don't remember the specifics.

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Will you win your Georgia workers compensation case? Hello. My name is Ty Wilson. I'm a Georgia workers compensation attorney practicing law in the state of Georgia. And the question we get a lot is “If I decide to go to a hearing while I win?” Well, we cannot tell you yes or no. Everything that matters when you're dealing with a Georgia workers compensation claim is what is called “evidence”. An evidence is what you have that you can prove. We all know that there are certain things that happen, but if you can't prove them in a court of law, it's like they didn't happen. And so evidence is what you must base your case on. And in reality, anybody who says yes, you can win. Well, if you've got a Slam dunk, yes, you can win case, you really shouldn't be out of hearing. Okay. 

There are times when the other side, employer insurer may not know details for some reason, but I think for the most part, once all the evidence is laid out, they're pretty realistic in their expectations and will not drag something into litigation, typically speaking without a reason. And so if there's something they are continuing to fight, there's probably some evidence or maybe some surveillance or video footage of you doing something you shouldn't have been doing or something along those lines. And so it's important to find that out into what is called discovery. But will you win your case? That's a complicated question. 

There is no guarantee that you will win everything you're seeking in a workers compensation claim. And so for any attorney to tell you otherwise, I think is somewhat reckless. The only way you find out if you win is by going through the process. And I'll say this a lot of times. What is considered a win is also a question Mark. In workers comp you're seeking medical benefits as it relates to your work injury and income benefits, if you've been taken out of work for more than seven days or on light duty or out of work completely for more than seven days. If you're on light duty, the employer cannot accommodate your restrictions. Okay. 

Will you win all of that? Well, the question is, what evidence do you have? Do you have work status reports that show that you're out of work or that you're on light duty? Do you have a name of someone at the employer's office that says, hey, just stay home. We can't accommodate your duty restrictions right now. We need somebody who can do work. That does happen doesn't always happen in writing. And so the more evidence you have in support of your contentions, the better chance you have of winning. But as far as Slam dunks, well, those are far and few between they are out there. But once again, if something is a Slam dunk, it doesn't need to be on a hearing calendar. 

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So what is your workers compensation claim worth? Hello. My name is Ty Wilson. I'm a Georgia workers compensation attorney practicing law in the state of Georgia. And so we're going to be talking about Georgia workers compensation claims today. Well, in Georgia workers compensation claim, we have a lot of injured workers who are upset and they're in a great deal of pain, or they've gone through some painful procedures, such as surgeries and so forth. And they usually have a figure that they want in their head when they're talking about settlement. And they want to know how much will my claim settle for? And the reality is we are pretty good at talking about a range of settlement values. However, in determining the value of a settlement, there's three things that they look at.

We look at the weekly checks. Are you receiving weekly checks? Well, how many weeks in the future are you going to continue receiving those weekly checks? If you know that and you are guaranteed that amount? Well, we can guarantee at least that time frame that you are going to receive those checks. Now, is there anything that can happen that would shake that up or change that? Well, of course there is. If you're in your car driving to a doctor's appointment and get in a motor vehicle collision, which aggravates and or interrupts your injury that may cut up the exposure for the workers compensation insurance company. And now you may have an auto insurance claim. Not that you want that. But I'm saying there are things in life that can change. So there is no guarantee that you're going to get paid that many weeks in advance. And so that's what inherently makes it hard to get a cold specific number. There are ranges of values, and as attorneys, we get familiar with them, as we have handled many cases through the years. If you have a worker's compensation attorney on your claim. 

And so one of the big things is how much are you getting paid per week? Is it a low comp rate? Are you making 200 a week or is it a higher comp rate and you have the Max rate, 675 per week? Well, that has a big determination on the future value of the claim. In addition to that is future medical; How many future medical appointments will you have with orthopedic will you need another surgery? Will you need to go under injections or have injections? We need to have more expensive diagnostic testing, such as MRIs, EMG, nerve conduction studies, milligrams, etc. Or are you pretty much done with your care if you're done with your care, well, then there's not a lot of expected future medical care, and that will affect the value of your claim. 

And so we talked about the weekly checks. We talked about the income benefits. The last thing is permanent impairment. A lot of people say, oh, permanent impairment. This is where I'm going to get the pain and suffering. It is not to be confused with pain and suffering at all. It's a number that can be calculated to the Penny, so long as you know three things. One, what is the weekly check amount? Two,  what body part is injured and what weeks are associated with that body part that can be determined rather easily? Three, what is the impairment rating? Impairment rating is something that the doctor will give you based upon your conditions. And based upon what is called the AMA guidelines. And so they determine what percentage of impairment for a particular body part based upon your functionality. If you know those three numbers, then yes, without a doubt, you can calculate that to the Penny. 

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