Causation and Truthfulness in Your DBA Case

The good news is winning a DBA case on causation is fairly easy.  Once you show 1% of the cause of your injury is due to being overseas you can recover 100% of your medical treatment. Section 20a gives you a presumption of compensability on causation where you establish that you were injured and the injury occurred overseas. And certainly if you are truthful and respectful you will probably receive medical and lost wage benefits for a period of time. 

There will come a time when the insurance company conducts a labor market survey to show there are jobs available that you can do. When you meet with the representative of the insurance company conducting the labor market survey, please understand that you must be totally honest in terms of supplying information about your prior jobs even revealing when you were terminated. You must also answer truthfully if you have any felony conviction. Attorneys for the insurance company will subpoena your prior employment records, medical records and criminal records. If you have lied to the labor market survey person, the defense attorney and/or the insurance company doctor, these false statements give the Judge a reason to deny your claim. No one expects you to be perfect, just be truthful. I like to say it would be a very boring world if we were all perfect. 

The same rule of truthfulness applies with respect to your prior medical history. If you had pain or hurt your injured body part in the past you must be truthful about it and you must reveal it. If you don’t remember a prior injury or prior pain then say, “not that I recall.” Or say, “I don’t remember.” There is no need to go out on a limb and say “No I never hurt my back” or “No I never had neck pain.” before because somewhere in your past medical records will be a note of such pain or prior injury. You will not have remembered it but it gives the impression you are a liar and the judge a reason to deny your claim. 

This firm spends considerable time preparing you for your deposition, IME and labor market survey. We investigate you thoroughly because we know the insurance company will and knowledge is power. As we like to say everything leaves a trail so Be Honest!