Settlements in Maryland Workers Compensation Claims Part 1 of 2

This post is the first of two regarding settlement of cases involving the Maryland Workers Compensation Commission and settlement of the claims that fall under the Jurisdiction of the Commission.  In past years, the Commission has had various forms that were required to be submitted with the settlement agreement for consideration by the Commission.  The specific documents that were to be provided were (1) a guide form or settlement worksheet; (2) a fully executed agreement of final compromise and settlement; (3) an affidavit of the claimant; (4) an award to be signed by the Commissioner; and (5) all pertinent and relevant medical records.  In Maryland, the Workers Compensation Commission must approve any settlement before the settlement becomes effective.  Recently, the guide form/settlement worksheet has changed to add additional emphasis on some of the questions. new maryland settlement worksheet One of the major driving forces behind the changing of the guide form/settlement worksheet are the Medicare recommendations/regulations.  These recommendations/regulations will be discussed in detail in the next post.  In order to be compliant with the Maryland Workers Compensation Commission and Medicare all persons wishing to have their settlement approved must comply with not only the Maryland regulations, but also with the Medicare regulations.  All attorneys practicing before the Commission must be familiar with the recommendations/regulations and make sure that the case is settled within those recommendations if the medicals are being closed. 

Many insurance carriers will eventually agree to settle a case with open medical treatment if they are pushed far enough.  If you are unable to keep the medical treatment open as part of a settlement of your claim, you must make sure the settlement complies with the Medicare regulations.  If you do not want to settle the case with closed medical treatment, and the carrier refuses to leave medical treatment open as part of the settlement, the best advice is to obtain your rating, implead all necessary parties and obtain a permanency award.  There are some cases that simply must be settled.  These cases include: (1)the cases that are lost before the Commission and are on appeal; or (2) those cases where the claimant is in jail; or (3) those cases where the claimant is under an extreme medical or financial hardship.  In those cases, the claimant's lawyers should do their best to represent the interests of their client while taking Medicare interests into account.  Failure to do this could lead to liability for the Claimant's lawyer.Maryland Workers Compensation Lawyer