If you or someone you love has been injured on the job call Bob and put his 20+ years of experience to work explaining the law and letting you know your options. During the initial evaluation, Bob will take a detailed look at your case and let you know whether you need an attorney and exactly what he can do for you.
The evaluation is FREE. You will not be pressured in any way to sign a contract. After hearing the details of your case, Bob and you can decide if you need an attorney, and if so, whether his law firm is right for you. THE CALL IS FREE, THE ADVICE CAN BE PRICELESS!
Robert Edens,“Bob” is recognized as a top-notch attorney who is ready, willing, and able to take even the most difficult cases all the way to trial and appeals, if that’s what it takes to get his clients the money they deserve.
Bob’s law firm has two mottos they like to live by: (1) “We don’t claim we’re the best – OTHERS DO!” – (2) “Others practice law – WE’RE PERFECTING OUR PRACTICE!” To see how others claim we are the best, go to our TESTIMONIALS page and watch numerous videos of satisfied clients claiming that Robert Edens is the best attorney for your case. To see how we are perfecting the practice of law take the time to review just some of the 100′s of pages on this website.
Each and every page was written by Bob and his assistant personnel. This is not a canned website, but a host of valuable information for current and prospective clients. It may not have all the glamor of the large law firms, but it shows how we have perfected our practice to provide our clients with TOP RATED and PERSONALIZED legal service in the fields of personal injury and workers’ compensation.
Bob has been recognized as a top-rated workers’ compensation attorney in Illinois and has a top rating in AVVO. He is an active member of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, the American Trial Lawyers Association, and the Lake County Bar Association.
In furtherance of his goal to provide the injured with top-notch legal services, Bob has written three books to date. His first book was dedicated to personal injury in general. It also focused on how insurance companies often use unscrupulous tactics to lower or deny the claims of personal injury victims.
Because of his vast experience in the area, Bob focused his second book on dog bite injuries, a field that seems to be growing with the change in breeds and the mishandling of dogs. Bob’s most recent book focuses on the unique practice and field of Workers’ Compensation. All of Bob’s books are written in plain English and are designed to give the layman an insight into the various types of claims, how they are handled, and the issues that inevitably arise in every case.
If you or someone you love has been injured, order Bob’s book, “12 Things You Must Know About Your Workers’ Compensation Claim” If you have questions that aren’t answered below, visit the Bob’s Workers’ Compensation FAQ page.
We can not emphasize enough the importance of getting legal advice in all but the most minor of cases. Remember, THE CALL IS FREE – THE ADVICE CAN BE PRICELESS!
Obviously, the most common work-related injuries will differ from industry to industry. However, below is a list of common work-related injuries in no particular order.
The Workers’ Compensation Act places several obligations on the injured employee and the employer after an injury occurs on the job. Some of these are set forth below:
Generally speaking, under Illinois Law, if you are involved in a work-related accident, you are entitled to recover the following damages:
Not every work-related injury requires you to hire an attorney or even file an application with the Illinois Industrial Commission. In many cases, injured workers only require a minimal amount of care and are back on the job in a short period of time. In these cases, there really is no need for an attorney and most often the Workers’ Compensation carrier will pay the medical bills and give the worker pay for the short time they are off work.
However, in cases where the injuries are more serious, employees all too often make the mistake of believing that the insurance carrier, and the caseworker that has been assigned to their case, have their best interests in mind. Remember, insurance companies are not in business to pay claims.
If an injury is serious, the complexities of the claim and the determination of the benefits under the Workers’ Compensation Act become much more complicated. For this reason, we highly recommend that at a minimum you consult with a skilled worker’s compensation attorney.
Rod was rear-ended while driving a company vehicle and stopped at an intersection. Suffering back injuries, Rod faced surgery with a lengthy recovery in which he needed to support his family. A friend recommended Bob. Despite a longer than usual settlement timeframe, Bob’s client was awarded nearly a million dollars for his injuries, loss of past, present, and future earnings.
Questions about the Statute of Limitations (SOL), what your case is worth, costs, mediation, jurisdiction, settlements, depositions, and any other legal matters can be discussed directly with Bob, at no charge, by clicking here or If you prefer to make an appointment as soon as possible, please call 847-395-2200.
Robert Edens “Bob” would be happy to provide you with a FREE, NO obligation or pressure, evaluation of your case. Bob has over 20 years of experience fighting to protect the rights of injured workers. He will take a detailed look at the facts of your case and will explain your legal options. If you, or someone you know, has been injured at work call the Law Offices of Robert T. Edens, P.C. for your honest case evaluation.
After a work injury, your main objective is to get well and return to work. Illinois Workers’ Compensation cases can be very complex and can require a lot of time and effort to handle. Insurance adjusters, their attorneys, and case managers are often rude to inexperienced individuals and won’t answer questions or phone calls. This can get very frustrating. If this is the case we suggest you contact an attorney to discuss your rights.
Just a glance at the Yellow Pages or the internet will show that all attorneys say they are the best or something to that effect. So how do you determine which is right for you? You need to get to the right lawyer and sort out the bad ones quickly.
Often family or friends will suggest an attorney but be sure to check into the attorney’s background. I often get calls relating to people who need a divorce, bankruptcy, real estate, or some other type of attorney. I specialize in Workers’ Compensation and personal injury ONLY. When I get these calls I refer the individual to an attorney that specializes in the field they require.
To do otherwise is a disservice to the client. Yet, all too often I get calls from individuals that are having problems with the attorney they hired. After discussing who they hired, I ask if they looked into the law firm to see if they specialize in Workers’ Compensation cases. The answer is usually NO. Save yourself a lot of time and money and look into the law firm before you hire them.
At the Law Office of Robert T. Edens, P.C. all we do is Workers’ Compensation and personal injury cases. We are a full-service litigation firm that can take your case all the way to resolution, whether that is by settlement or full litigation.
We strongly encourage you to go to our TESTIMONIALS page to see actual clients who were injured at work and hired us to handle their cases.
Our law firm has represented injured workers for over 20 years and has obtained MILLIONS OF DOLLARS in compensation for their injuries. We know all too well the physical, emotional, and financial cost of dealing with a serious injury or wrongful death due to a work injury. The emotional and physical injury alone can make life unmanageable.
Then there is the loss of employment and the mounting medical bills and paperwork that comes with it. To top it all off, there is the insurance adjuster arguing with you over the value of your property and injury claim.
If you would like to take a quick look at ACTUAL settlements and verdicts by area and injury CLICK HERE
There are two things that set us apart from other lawyers:
Personal attention means going beyond the ordinary attorney-client relationship. It means personally knowing our clients and the details of their cases. It means answering phone calls and questions when the client needs answers. At The Law Offices of Robert T. Edens, P.C. we understand the problems faced by our clients. What sets our firm apart from the others is the personal attention we give our clients from the very first time you come in the door.
We go beyond the services offered by other firms. We will assist you in the selection of medical providers and much more. By the time your case is completed, you will know why most of my clients become friends and continue to stay in touch and refer us cases for years.
In today’s world, it is not enough for an attorney to know how to review the medical records, file a demand/claim, and expect to be able to maximize the money the client deserves. Today an attorney must know about a wide range of traumatic injuries, keep up to date with changing laws, and know the players that are involved in the claims process on all sides.
WOULD YOU WANT ANYONE LESS QUALIFIED TO REPRESENT YOU? Our law firm has experience with details relating to causation analysis for the injury, the clinical examination for the injury, the various diagnostic test procedures for specific injuries, the underlying differential diagnosis of the injury, and the prognosis for the injury.
Bob and his staff have handled cases involving traumatic injuries to nearly every part of the body. The most common include severe brain injury and related head injuries, neck injuries, mid and low back injuries, shoulder injuries, knee injuries, and ankle and foot injuries. Diagnostic testing for these injuries after a clinical evaluation range from simple X-rays to CT scans, MRIs, and more.
Treatment for many of these injuries often starts with physical therapy and medications. If this doesn’t succeed in getting you back to work and your normal activities you may need further medical intervention including epidural injections, trigger point injections, arthroscopic surgery, open surgery, long-term pain management, and more. Bob and his staff have handled cases involving almost every injury and treatment that results from car accidents and work injuries.
Bob has written the book that every injured worker MUST read to understand their rights and level the playing field with insurance companies and their case managers. Bob and his law firm have represented thousands of injured workers in the Lake County area and have obtained MILLIONS of dollars in settlements and verdicts for clients. We encourage you to take the time to go to our verdicts and settlements page and see the actual verdicts and settlements that we have gotten for our clients.
Order Bob’s book, free to any injured Illinois worker, to know your benefits and level the playing field with the insurance companies
Often workers who have been injured on the job don’t know what to do. They are wondering:
We suggest that you contact our office and get your free copy of Bob’s book, “12 Things you MUST Know About Your Workers’ Compensation Claim.”
At this time you can set an appointment for your FREE NO obligation and NO pressure honest evaluation of your case. Bob will personally look at the details of your case and put his 20+ years of experience to work to let you know your options.
If you have been involved in a work-related injury you will only get one chance to get the compensation you deserve. Therefore, it is important that you separate fact from fiction.
Myth 1: You can’t recover compensation for your injuries because you were at fault.
Truth: Even if your injury was your own fault you are still entitled to full benefits under the Workers’ Compensation Act. So long as your injury occurred at work, or in the course of performing your duties, and there were no special circumstances that would preclude recovery, you are entitled to certain benefits.
Myth 2: You can’t recover because there are no witnesses to the accident.
Truth: In many cases, there won’t be any witnesses to your accident. However, that has little bearing on your ability to collect benefits. It is important to remember that it is your obligation to notify your employer as soon as possible about your injuries.
Myth 3: You can’t recover damages because you are a new employee or your employer does not provide this coverage.
Truth: This is a myth that some employers might like you to believe. The fact is your employer is required by law to carry workers’ compensation insurance and not doing so may result in fines and subject the employer to liability.
Myth 4: You can’t recover because you didn’t go to the hospital or doctor right away.
Truth: Injuries aren’t always immediately evident. An employee may feel fine immediately after the incident but a serious injury may develop later. It is best to immediately seek medical treatment for your injury. If you do not, it does not automatically prevent you from bringing a workers’ compensation claim for injuries caused by the accident.
Myth 5: You can’t recover because your injuries are related to a “pre-existing” condition.
Truth: An accident can often further injuries in an area that is already weakened by a prior condition. This is most common in back, shoulder, and knee injuries. An insurance company will try to use the fact that you received treatment in the same area to their advantage. For example, a person might have a previous shoulder injury, but as a result of this accident, they may now have a permanent injury and require surgery.
An experienced attorney will have encountered this issue on many prior occasions and can aggressively challenge the insurance company’s allegations. Therefore, it is important to tell your physician, as well as your attorney, about any prior injuries as the insurance adjuster will eagerly argue that you were intentionally being deceptive to collect money for a pre-existing injury when you had no intention.
Myth 6:You may not be able to return to work because you may be fired while you are out sick.
Truth: Your employer can not terminate you from employment because you filed a Workers’ Compensation claim and MUST place you in a position at the same salary you were receiving at the time of your accident.
An insurance company is a business and just like any other business, its main goal is to make a profit. Simply put, they have to take in more money than they pay out and ultimately this is what determines just how big their profits will be. While there is nothing wrong with this premise from their standpoint, it does leave you, and your future, vulnerable to their greed. In an effort to achieve their profits, I have noticed MANY TRAPS that injured workers fall into:
After your accident, the insurance adjuster who calls is often pleasant, and friendly, and will just want you to answer a few questions so they can help you. Customarily, they will tell you that your medical bills and lost wages are covered and may even offer to pay them as soon as you send them copies. However, oftentimes once they receive the bills they will give you one reason or another why the claim cannot be paid or they can’t pay your lost wages. This is the first of many false promises and the first of many excuses you will hear. The goal is to get to a quick settlement and prevent you from retaining an attorney.
When it comes to recorded statements a good rule of thumb is “anything you say can and will be used against you.” Most people readily admit to their role in their on-the-job accident because they honestly believe that the insurance adjuster is sincerely trying to help them and understands that the nature of some jobs is dangerous. This is one of the biggest traps they hope you fall into. Once they have your version of events they can start building a case against you. You should not give a recorded statement.
If your claim has been assigned a case manager it is likely that you were seriously injured enough to justify the insurance company’s personal attention to limiting their exposure to loss on your case. The insurance company has a right to have a case manager follow your case. However, the case manager may NOT go into the examination room with you and your doctor. They may attend your doctor’s appointment but must wait outside to speak to your doctor after the examination is complete.
They will be using the information gained from the doctor to determine if they should authorize additional treatment and whether you should be required to return to work and, if so, under what restriction. Often they use this information to decide on hiring their own doctor to refute the conclusions of your treating physician. Once you see their doctor, which they have a right to require you to do, you can bet that there will be a change in the treatment that is authorized, the requirement that you return to work, and the benefits you receive. Their doctors work almost exclusively for insurance companies and are well paid to reduce the amount the insurance company has to pay in benefits.
Most work injury victims already know that they are entitled to compensation for their medical bills and lost wages. The secret the insurance companies are keeping from them is that they are also entitled to recover damages for many other things. These other benefits are described more fully above and on other pages of this site. However, the most common benefits that employees are unaware of are:
Insurance companies go to great lengths to prevent you from learning how much your injuries are actually worth. The biggest way they do this is to try to prevent you from hiring an attorney. They know that once you do, statistics show you will receive two or three times as much for your injuries. Another way is not to inform you of the resources for valuing your claim. If you are dealing with an adjuster, ask them where you could go to value your claim. I bet they won’t direct you to the local Workers’ Compensation settlements and awards book.
One reason insurance adjusters are often so eager to process a claim and offer a quick settlement is to prevent the victim from discovering the extent, and possibly long-lasting effects, of their injuries. Only you and your doctor can really answer this question and it usually takes time. On the other hand, the insurance companies use a “cookie-cutter” technique to assign a value to each injury, or combination of injuries and assess a dollar amount based on this formula.
The Act does assign certain weeks of benefits for loss of limbs and has very specific guidelines. However, it is arrogant on the part of the insurance company, and insulting to you, when they attempt to classify all victims and their injuries into narrowly defined “one-size-fits-all” categories. You are unique, your injuries are unique, and you deserve individualized personal attention to every aspect of your case.
A third-party claim would involve a set of facts that could make a third-party, someone other than the insurance company’s client, responsible for your injuries. These claims often dramatically increase the value of your case. However, if you settle the claim without preserving the 3rd party claim, in some circumstances you may lose this opportunity.
Some examples of third-party claims are:
a. Accidents caused by faulty equipment or manufactured products.
b. Injuries caused by an employee of another company at your job site.
c. Injuries as a result of unsafe premises when owned or operated by someone other than your employer.
d. Car accidents caused by someone else’s negligence when you are driving as part of your job.
If you are not aware that you can file a claim against a third-party, in almost all cases, the insurance company is not going to tell you. If you think someone else may be liable for your injuries, I highly recommend you call me to discuss how it may affect your claim
Victims represented by an attorney typically receive two to three times more money than they obtain when they represent themselves. Insurance companies don’t want you to know this. If you are dealing with an adjuster, ask him if they would advise you to speak to an attorney before proceeding any further. I bet you will hear a lot of things, but one thing you won’t hear is “yes, I suggest you seek legal counsel immediately.” This is why the insurance companies want to settle your claim quickly and why the adjuster will do everything possible to keep you from hiring a lawyer.
If you have recently been injured as a result of a work-related accident in Illinois (for example neck, back injury, slip, fall, eye, or hand injury), you are probably confused or worried about what step to take next and have lots of important questions on your mind like:
If you currently have any of these concerns, then please read this page in its entirety, as well as the other pages that Bob and his staff have personally written, to help you get from the point that you were injured to the point you are back to work and receiving the settlement check in your hands.
Bob has been a Workers’ Compensation lawyer for over 20 years defending the rights of people who were injured on the job. He has settled over a million dollars in Workers’ Compensation claims in the past five years.
Being involved with the legal system, Bob has seen hard-working, honest, unsuspecting people be taken advantage of (that’s right, taken advantage of) by uncaring insurance companies and doctors you, as an employee, are forced to see after a work-related injury. Doctors who say, “you’re O.K.., it’s not that bad, you’re not hurt, you can go back to work in a couple of days.”
Over the past 20 years, Bob has encountered many people who have suffered from all types of work-related injuries and failed to get the “right” legal advice. Some of these people haven’t gone to a lawyer because they didn’t know they have the right to compensation. Some people are intimidated by meeting with an attorney.
They don’t want to file a workers’ compensation claim because they think that they might lose their job, their health insurance benefits, or the time they have put into the company, losing their pension. None of which are true!!!
Each year, I hear of dozens of cases where injured workers who are entitled to receive compensation for injuries never took action to submit a claim to get what they truly deserve. In this day and age, doing nothing at all is one of the worst things you can do.
Bob has a reputation of being a fighter, someone who looks out for the small guy. That’s why he has taken the time to sit down and write his book in plain English without a lot of legal technical jargon. It makes our firm sick to see hard-working people who get injured on the job cheated out of what they rightfully deserve because they were intimidated by a big insurance company. They were “SOLD” an unfair settlement simply because the company doctor said they really weren’t in bad shape. Or they were afraid of losing their job. It’s hard enough to make ends meet these days and getting injured on the job shouldn’t have made matters worse.
If you, or someone you love, has been injured on the job call Bob and put his 20+ years of experience to work explaining the law and letting you know your legal options. During the initial evaluation, Bob will take a detailed look at your case and let you know whether you need an attorney and exactly what he can do for you.
The evaluation is FREE. You will not be pressured in any way to sign a contract. After hearing the details of your case, Bob and you can decide if you need an attorney, and if so, whether his law firm is right for you. THE CALL IS FREE, THE ADVICE CAN BE PRICELESS! Call 847-395-2200
For even more information see our Illinois Workers’ Compensation FAQs Page.
It is important that you file your claim within the Statute of Limitations or you may be forever barred from recovering anything.