What to Look for In A Workers Comp Attorney

I read a competitor friend's blog recently and it listed several things that an injured worker should look for in a workers comp attorney.  Some I agreed with, others I don't - different strokes for different folks.  At any rate, I've made my own list of important things to look for in a workers comp attorney in Arizona:


1.  The attorney practices exclusively workers compensation.  Workers comp is an extremely specialized area of the law.  Attorneys who try and dabble in it are unaware of certain biases that doctors or judges may have, and some of the more subtle nuances of the law. 

2.  The attorney has great staff.  This is where I take exception with my competitor friend.  As an attorney, if I'm answering the telephone or on hold with your pharmacy, or tracking down your medical records, or making copies, that means I'm not doing real legal work on your case.  At Snow & Carpio, we have 10 paralegals and secretaries who have as much as 30 years experience in the workers compensation field.  This means that if you have an urgent matter, you don't have to wait for me to get out of court or answer 20 other phone calls to deal with it.  It also means I have more time to spend meeting with clients and preparing their cases for court. 

3.  If you speak Spanish, it is extremely important that your attorney speak your language.  I don't know how many times I've been doing a hearing in Spanish where the entire case has hinged on testimony that was interpreted incorrectly.  If I hadn't been able to understand and correct the interpretation, the case would've gone the other way.  Also, attorneys have an ethical obligation to communicate with their clients.  My experience is that attorneys who can't speak their client's language, generally have much less communication with that client, usually handing them off to a spanish speaking paralegal or secretary. 

4.  You want an experienced attorney, but not too experienced.  I've always thought that the best doctors were the ones who had enough experience to have seen everything before, but not too much experience to where they don't stay current on new developments or are just going through the motions.  I think the same is true for attorneys.  Some attorneys are still handling their cases the way they were handled in the 1970's and haven't kept up with the times. 

5.  Aggressive doesn't necessarily mean effective.   I always laugh at attorney television commercials that tout how "aggressive" the lawyer is.  My experience is that some attorneys mask their incompetence by being aggressive or impolite to the opposing party.  It has taken me several years to learn that if I am rude to the claim adjustor or their attorney, I get much less accomplished on your case.  The saying "you get more flies with honey" is certainly true in Arizona workers/workmans comp cases. 

6.  Get an attorney who is willing to change your doctor.  One of the most effective things we do at Snow & Carpio is make sure our client is treating with a doctor that is more interested in their recovery, and less interested in saving the insurance company money.  If your attorney lets you treat with Concentra, for example, or doesn't at least ask you if you feel comfortable with your treating doctor, you might need a new attorney. 

7.  Your attorney is a real person who gets to know you and treats you like a trusted friend.  I've seen many workers comp attorneys who act almost nervous around their working class clients and seem to talk down to them.  Alex Carpio and I both worked blue collar jobs for many years before becoming attorneys.  We come from humble backgrounds and know how difficult it is for our clients to survive from comp check to comp check.  We take a personal interest in our clients and their families.  Many of our old clients still come around and invite us to their kids' quinceaneras, weddings, or just let us know how they're doing.  Most of our clients come on referral from other clients, which tells us that our clients can tell that we care about them as people, and don't just see them as a necessary means to make our living.

There are many more things to look for.  When looking for an attorney to handle your claim, you should meet with 3 or 4 attorneys and get a feel for who you are comfortable with.  It is one of the more important decisions you will make. 

Chad T. Snow is an attorney who handles exclusively workers compensation matters for injured workers in Arizona.  He has offices in Phoenix and Tucson with his associates at Snow, Carpio, and Weekley.

2011 Los Abogados Laugh Fest (04/28/11)

(L-R) Alex Carpio, Nina Carpio, Chad Snow, Javier Melendez, Erica Gonzalez-Melendez, April Snow, Kirk Snow, Martha Diaz and Nola Dierken

Javier Melendez  and Erica Gonzalez-Melendez

Erica Gonzalez-Melendez, April Snow and Martha Diaz

Snow, Carpio, and Weekley

How Does the Doctor Get Paid in Arizona Work Comp Claim?

One of the good things about Arizona workers/workmans compensation is that an injured worker has 100% coverage of all medical expenses related to his or her injury. Coverage of the injury can last for the entire lifetime of the injured worker.

The insurance carrier pays the medical providers directly based on a fee schedule set by the Industrial Commission of Arizona. A.R.S. 23-908 sets the maximum fee that a physician or pharmacy can charge for treatment or medications. Many times the insurance carrier negotiates a special lower rate with a provider and that may be the reason they want you to treat with a specific doctor.

For the most part, the Arizona Workers Compensation fee schedule pays substantially more than private insurance or Medicare, so many doctors are eager to treat injured workers. The fee schedule is set by taking the fee schedules of 7 other states and calculating the 75th percentile of what they pay for different medical treatments. Fees for durable medical equipment, nurse practitioners, physicians assistants, and orthopedic devices are not set in the fee schedule.

The industrial commission of Arizona reviews the fee schedule yearly rotating through the different types of treatment every four years. For more thorough information about the fee schedule, see the Industrial Commission website at http://www.ica.state.az.us/Director/DIR_FSFAQs2010.aspx

Chad T. Snow is an attorney who limits his practice to representation of injured workers before the Industrial Commission of Arizona and Social Security Administration. He and his associates at Snow, Carpio, and Weekley can be reached at (602) 532-0700 in Phoenix, or (520) 647-9000 in Tucson.

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Arpaio worried about civil rights?

Arpaio worried about civil rights?

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Do I Need to Answer Interrogatories in AZ Work Comp Case?

Many clients who are litigating their work injury claims in Arizona call us after they receive a large packet of information from the attorney representing the insurance carrier. One of the most intimidating contents of this packet are the "interrogatories", which are a series of (usually 25) written questions about the injury, witnesses, medical treatment received, and legal defenses/arguments that will be presented at hearing.

I rarely answer interrogatories for two reasons: (1) the insurance company's attorney will be taking your deposition (under oath) soon anyways so they can get the information verbally at that time; (2) they're a huge waste of time.

However, if the carrier's attorney insists on getting answers to the Interrogatories, it is always advisable to answer them. Sometimes, the attorney will ask the judge presiding over your case to issue an Order compelling you to answer the interrogatories. If you receive such an order from the judge, answer the interrogatories IMMEDIATELY. Failure to do so can result in your request for hearing being dismissed or the judge entering some other sanction against you, including having the pay the attorney's fees of the carrier's attorney for the time spent forcing you to answer.

If you have questions about Interrogatories that you've received, the deposition, or the hearing process or your workman's comp claim in general, please contact Snow, Carpio, and Weekley at (602) 532-0700 or (520) 647-9000.

Work Related "Stress" Injuries In Arizona Work Comp

We get a lot of calls from potential clients who want to file a workers comp claim because they have a lot of stress at work or their boss is just a jerk and they can't handle it anymore. The short answer is, "get over it. We're all stressed!" The long, more legal and politically correct answer is, in order to be compensable, a mental injury must be precipitated by an event that is "unexpected, unusual, or extraordinary stress."

The proof required for mental injuries is more stringent than that required for physical injuries because of the difficulty in proving a causal connection between mental illness and work-related stress. As the Arizona workers Comp Handbook so eloquently states, "in today's society, emotional stress has multiple causes. Some are work-related, others are not.

There are two types of emotional stress cases: in the first, the mental injury is caused by a single incident. In the second, the injury producing event is gradual in nature. The former are usually easier to prove compensable. Examples would be where an employee sees a co-worker get shot or die or where the employee hits and kills a pedestrian while on the job. The latter (gradual) are less likely to be accepted because of the difficulty in proving a causal connection.

Summary: if you're stressed because your boss is a jerk, you're overworked, your hours got cut, or your co-worker makes annoying nose sounds, man up and get over it.
If you have a truly stressful event at work, call Snow, Carpio, and Weekley at (602) 532-0700 or (520) 647-9000.

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Meet the Staff at Snow and Carpio - Arizona's Best Workers Compensation Firm!!!



S&C Holiday Party 2010

One of the things that Alex and I feel sets us apart as Arizona's best workers compensation firm is the experience and quality of our staff.  When you hire an attorney to represent you in your work injury case, you are hiring more than the attorney.  Much of the work on your case will be done by paralegals and legal secretaries and you may have more contact with them than with the attorney.  With that having been said, meet some of our staff:

Martha Diaz - Martha has been working in the area of Arizona workers compensation since 1979.  With over 32 years of experience handling Arizona work injury claims, Martha has worked on literally tens of thousands of cases!  She is currently our intake specialist and meets with all potential new clients.  Martha and I have worked together since 1992 - everything I know about workers compensation I learned from Martha! 

Nola Dierken - Nola has worked as a paralegal for several Arizona workers comp law firms representing both insurance companies and injured workers since 1989.  Nola and I have also worked together since 1992 on thousands of cases. She currently works as my litigation paralegal.  Nola's great organizational skills make up for my lack of organization! 

April Snow - April is our business manager and is also married to my older brother Kirk!  Before joining Snow and Carpio, April owned her own large roof tile manufacturing company for seven years.  April has taken the firm to another level with her business development and customer service skills. 

Melissa Felix - Melissa has worked in the workers compensation field since 2004.  She works now as my pre-litigation paralegal.  Melissa may be one of the friendliest people you ever meet - seriously! 

Angelina Acosta - Angie started with our firm as a receptionist in 2006 when she was just 19 years old.  We quickly realized that she could do a lot more than answer phones and she has moved up to legal secretary and is currently working as Alex Carpio's pre-litigation paralegal. 

Crystal Rios - Crystal was the first employee hired by the firm back at the start in 2003.  At the time, she was attending the Paralegal program at Phoenix College.  She has worked her way through undergraduate studies at University of Phoenix and recently graduated with her Juris Doctorate degree from Phoenix School of Law. 

Ligia Enriquez - Ligia is another employee who started as our receptionist in 2008 and moved up to paralegal.  Ligia is the paralegal on all of our Social Security Disability cases. 

Erica Gonzalez-Melendez - Erica and I met in Law School at ASU in the late 1990's.  After law school, she worked in the areas of personal injury and for a time as a city prosecutor.  After taking time off to have two children, Erica has returned to practice in the areas of workers compensation and also handles some family law, criminal law, and immigration cases.  She also sits on the Board of Directors of Chicanos Por la Causa. 

Elsa Flores - Elsa is our newest receptionist and also attends Phoenix College part-time.  She has already far exceeded our expectations and recently did the entire translation of our website into Spanish.  We hope she will be with the firm for many years. 

Combined, the members of our firm's team have handles literally thousands of Arizona workers compensation cases over 5 decades!  Most of our team speaks spanish and almost all are native Arizonans.  Some of us have worked in several other firms handling workers compensation and we all agree that Snow and Carpio is the best!!! 

Chad T. Snow is an attorney handling Social Security Disability and Workers Compensation claims in Arizona.  He can be reached through his firm's website at Snow, Carpio, and Weekley or at (602) 532-0700 in the Phoenix office and (520) 647-9000 in Tucson. 

Mileage Reimbursements in Arizona Work Injury Claims

Many workers injured on the job in Arizona ask me if they are entitled to mileage reimbursement for travel incurred for treatment for their on-the-job injuries.  There is no hard and fast rule to answer this.  However, the general rule that I use is that if there is no specialist in the area where you live, and you have to travel more than 50 miles to obtain treatment, you are probably entitled to reimbursement for your mileage.  The mileage is reimbursed at the federal mileage reimbursement rate, which (last I checked) was 47 cents per mile. 

The theory behind this rule is that when the injured worker was working, they were incurring expenses traveling to and from work every day, that they aren't incurring while off work recovering from their injuries.  So they are only reimbursed if the travel to obtain treatment is significantly greater than what they normally travelled to and from work.  However, every case is different and every carrier handles mileage reimbursement different. 

Also, if your travel takes you to another city and may require you to stay overnight, you may be entitled to meal and lodging reimbursement. 

Chad T. Snow is a lawyer who handles workers compensation matters throughout Arizona.  He can be reached at his website, Snow, Carpio, and Weekley, or in his Phoenix office at (602) 532-0700 and in Tucson at (520) 647-9000. 

My Blog Has Gone Global

In an effort to better serve our clients who speak Russian, Chinese, Korean, German, French, and Japanese, our blog is now available in all of these languages!!!  (We don't have any clients that speak those languages - yet...)  Kudos to our business manager marketing genius extraordinaire, April, for finding a program that translates our Snow, Carpio, and Weekley blog directly into several selected languages.  And if the spanish translation is any indicator, it's actually a very accurate interpretation.  The Spanish language translation will actually be very helpful for our many spanish speaking clients, who we can now direct to the blog for answers to many of their frequently asked questions. 

If you want to see the blog in a different language, simply scroll down to the bottom of the page, and press on the flag representing that language.  Don't tell anyone about the program, I want them to think we paid to have it professionally translated into all those languages! 

У меня был момент Эврика прошлой неделе, когда я узнал, что некоторые люди на самом деле читать этот блог!  Теперь я должен обратить внимание на содержании, грамматике и правописании! Поэтому я попросил моего менеджера бизнес / невестка апреля по ели дизайн немного. Как обычно, она взяла его на следующий уровень

Ich hatte ein Aha-Erlebnis letzte Woche, als ich herausfand, dass einige Menschen tatsächlich dieses Blog lesen! Jetzt habe ich die Aufmerksamkeit auf den Inhalt, Grammatik, Rechtschreibung und bezahlen! fragte ich meine Business Manager / Schwägerin April bis Fichte das Design ein wenig. Wie üblich, nahm sie es auf die nächste Ebene

Changes to My Arizona Workers Compensation Blog

I had a Eureka moment last week when I found out that several people actually read this blog!!!  Now I  have to pay attention to the content, grammar, and spelling!  So I asked my business manager/sister in law April to spruce up the design a little bit.  As usual, she took it to the next level. 

First, I have asked her to tone down the huge picture of me at the top of the blog.  It's obnoxious.  It makes me look like a narcissistic John Elway look-alike. 

She's working on that!!

But the careful reader will notice that many of the entries have pictures or graphics, there is video sprinkled throughout, and pictures and other links are down below. 

My goal for the blog, other than the obvious of driving clients to my firm's website, is to give information about Arizona workman's compensation claims or cases in an entertaining, down-to-earth way.  Not every injured worker needs an attorney, although every injured worker should at least talk to an attorney.  If this blog can help someone better understand the Arizona workers/workman's comp process, then I'm happy with that.  And if I can include the occasional funny story about wacky clients or pot smoking zookeepers, then all the better!!!

Chad T. Snow is a workers (workman's) compensation attorney who has offices in Tucson and Phoenix.  He has represented thousands of Arizonans who have been injured on the job.  He can be reached at (602) 532-0700 or (520) 647-9000 or through his website, Snow, Carpio, and Weekley.

Social Security Disability in AZ by Attorney Chad Snow

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How Should I Dress to My Workers Compensation Hearing?

I get asked a lot by clients how they should dress to their hearings at the Industrial Commission of Arizona.  First, as a general rule, don't do what one of my clients did and wear a t-shirt with a picture of a half naked woman on it that says "F.B.I. - Female Body Inspector" - women judges generally frown on that.  Or don't do what another client of mine did and plop down on the witness stand your hat that has a pair of boobs and a pickup truck on it and the words "If it's got t*ts or tires, it's bound to cause problems."  That lessens your credibility as a witness right off the bat. 

I always tell clients that you should dress as nicely as you can for your hearing.  It is a very serious matter.  Oftentimes your future livelihood depends on its outcome.  The way you dress tells the judge how seriously you take it.  I'm not saying to wear a suit or tuxedo - definitely don't dress better than your lawyer.  But a nice pair of jeans or slacks and a shirt with a collar is appropriate. 

If you have an orthopedic device, like a leg or back brace, wear it underneath your clothing.  Wearing a leg brace over a pair of jeans just looks like you are screaming for attention.  Also, don't do what another client of mine did and bring a bible and hold it the entire hearing. That's a little over the top...

These are just a few friendly tips from Snow, Carpio, and Weekley.

Irony in Arizona Workers Compensation Claims

My 15 year old daughter asked me one time what the definition of "ironic" was.  The first thing that came to mind was a case I litigated at the Industrial Commission several years ago.  My client worked in a large machine shop.  He was on his way out of the shop when his boss told him that he couldn't walk through the shop without his safety goggles.  The goggles were up a flight of metal stairs in the office, so he walked up the steps to get them.  On the way down, he tripped and fell down the flight of stairs, sustaining several fractures in his spine.  As Alanis Morrissette once sang, "isn't it ironic" that he destroyed his spine going to get his safety goggles?

I had another client a couple of years ago who worked at Circle K.  She broke her wrist tripping over the yellow "Caution - Wet Floor" sign.  Isn't that ironic? 

Or the guy who got into a fistfight at his framing company's "safety meeting", sustaining a fracture to his hand. 

Nothing real substantive today, just a few examples you can use if you ever need to define "ironic". 

Chad T. Snow is a workers (workman's compensation attorney in Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona.  He has represented thousands of Arizona's workers who have been injured on the job.  Whether your injury is ironic or not, he can be reached at (602) 532-0700 or (520) 647-9000. You can also check out his website at Snow, Carpio, and Weekley.

What to Expect at Your Workers Compensation Deposition

Few things cause more anxiety for a worker injured on the job in Arizona than attending a deposition prior to their hearing.  And there's really no reason for it.  With few exceptions, depositions in Arizona workers compensation claims are incredibly informal affairs.  However, they can be extremely important in winning or losing your case if you're not properly prepared. 

The deposition is the insurance carrier's attorney's opportunity to ask the injured worker questions under oath to find out information about the claim, and also to gauge how the injured worker will testify if the case goes to court.  The deposition is almost always held at the attorney's office.  If you are represented by counsel, your attorney should attend the deposition with you and prepare you for the questions to be asked beforehand.  A court reporter is always at the deposition making a written record of what is said. 

Most depositions last between 30-60 minutes, depending on the issue and the defense attorney.  The questions usually center around the applicant's work history, how the injury happened, medical treatment that has been received, prior medical history, the applicant's current symptoms, and other information depending on the issue that is pending before the Court. 

The two iron rules that I always tell my clients before depositions are: (1) give short answers; and (2) tell the truth.  Most questions can be answered with a simple "yes" or "no", and perhaps a very brief explanation.  Never volunteer information that hasn't been specifically asked.  And tell the truth always - you never know if the carrier has been having an investigator follow you and perform video surveillance.  If you say you haven't done something, and they have you on videotape doing it, the judge won't believe a word you say. 

If your case has gotten to the point where you have a deposition scheduled, you should probably consult with an Arizona Workers/Workmans Compensation Attorney.  Litigation is definitely not a do-it-yourself project.

Chad T. Snow is an attorney in Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona, who has handled thousands of Arizona workman's compensation claims.  He can be reached at his website, Snow, Carpio, and Weekley, or at (602) 532-0700 or (520) 647-9000.