Tarpon Springs Personal Injury Lawyer
Disabled people and injured workers are entitled to life-changing benefits.
The first white settlers of Tarpon Springs, many of whom were of Greek ancestry, almost immediately started a sponge business. The business thrived until 1947 when a red tide wiped out most of the sponge fields in the Gulf of Mexico. However, the industry recovered, and today is an important sector in the city’s economy.
Disability cases, like the economy, have their ups and downs. Through it all, the determined Tarpon Springs personal injury lawyers at the Rooth Law Firm remain at your side. We look past these ups and downs and instead concentrate on the nuts and bolts of your case. Our proven methods help us obtain maximum compensation for your serious injuries, whether they are work-related or non-work-related.
Workers’ Compensation Basics
Once upon a time, an efficient and well-funded friendly workers’ compensation system enabled job injury victims to get the benefits they needed.
Alas, those days are gone. The current workers’ compensation system is a large bureaucracy that’s dominated by insurance company interests.
Furthermore, the system is no longer well-funded. In 2024, workers’ compensation insurance premiums dropped for the seventh consecutive year. Less money in the system means less money available to pay benefits, like:
- Lost Wage Replacement: Most victims are entitled to two-thirds of their average weekly wage for the duration of their temporary or permanent disabilities. A proper AWW calculation is based on not only prior wages, but also future wages, such as missed performance bonus milestones and overtime opportunities.
- Medical Bill Payment: Workers’ compensation insurance companies must pay all reasonably necessary medical bills. This category includes not only direct costs, such as treatment and physical therapy expenses but also indirect costs, like transportation and medical devices.
In some cases, a Tarpon Springs personal injury lawyer can file claims outside the workers’ compensation system and obtain additional compensation, mostly for emotional distress and other noneconomic losses.
Social Security Disability Basics
Similar benefits are available through the Social Security system if the applicant has a permanent, disabling medical condition. According to the SSA, a medical condition is disabling if the applicant:
- Does not earn more than $1,550 per month, as of January 1, 2024 (some exceptions apply),
- Has a “severe” condition that substantially limits a work-related activity, like standing, sitting, or concentrating, on an everyday basis,
- Has a listed condition, or a condition that is substantially similar to a listed condition,
- Cannot do the work they did previously, and
- Cannot work any other job.
So, a “disability” is not exclusively a medical term, or even primarily a medical term. Vocational, educational, and other factors come into play as well. For example, a nerve injury in a hand might not be disabling for most people, but it might be disabling for a dentist.
A Tarpon Springs personal injury lawyer helps applicants establish the medical and non-medical elements of a Social Security Disability claim.
Attorneys usually partner with independent doctors who, in many cases, are more well-suited to address medical issues than the doctor the SSA randomly assigns to a case. Attorneys also usually work with vocational experts in other areas. A vocational expert assesses the applicant’s chances of getting a good job, given not only the applicant’s medical background but also the applicant’s other background.
Count on a Tarpon Springs Personal Injury Lawyer
Victims need and deserve compensation for their injuries. For a free consultation with a Board Certified workers’ compensation lawyer in Tarpon Springs, contact the Rooth Law Firm. Virtual, home, and hospital visits are available.