Kimberley Becker and her team at Campbelltown have recently completed a claim for a father of four seeking back payments of weekly compensation. Our client was a labourer who was injured in a lifting accident way back in 2000. Since then, he has suffered from severe back pain radiating down into his legs. Doctors’ opinion has been divided as to the need for and the benefit of spinal surgery. Our client is fearful that he may end up a paraplegic if he had surgery and no doctor could guarantee that the surgery would cure his back pain. As a result of the severe pain, our client has become socially withdrawn and his marriage has been severely affected. The workers compensation insurance company responsible for paying our client’s weekly payments refused to pay weekly compensation for a period of several years on the basis that our client did not have proper supporting WorkCover medical certificates. This was despite the fact that his treating doctors have remained constant since the year 2000 and confirmed in medical reports, both before and after this five year period, that our client’s back condition was permanent and it severely restricted him in his capacity to perform any work. Our client instructed Kimberley and she set about gathering together evidence to support the claim for the payment of weekly workers compensation for the five year period. She systematically gathered all medical evidence which proved beyond any doubt the continuation of our client’s complaints and symptoms. Eventually the insurance company relented and our client has now received the back pay he was entitled to amounting to several years of payments. Commenting on the case, Kimberley stated that “injured workers need to ensure that at all times they are covered by up to date WorkCover medical certificates issued by their treating doctor. Failure to keep getting medical certificates may result in the insurer rejecting the claim and refusing to pay compensation”. Kimberley went on to say that “this can result in a claim having to be brought in the Workers Compensation Commission and there are always risks associated with bringing such claims”. Fortunately for our client and his family, Kimberley’s attention to detail and her forensic legal approach ensured that our client’s full entitlements were awarded to him.
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