Workers’ Compensation Subrogation Attorneys

Nationwide Leaders in Workers’ Compensation Subrogation

DSB&C is the largest dedicated Workers’ Compensation Subrogation Department in the country, exclusively practicing this complex and niche area of the law in all 50 states.

A Dedicated Team Focused Exclusively on Lien Recovery

Our 7 full-time workers’ compensation subrogation lawyers, 3 partners and 4 associates, focus exclusively on obtaining workers’ compensation lien recoveries for insurance companies and large self-insured companies in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and abroad. Our workers’ compensation subrogation professionals are uniquely skilled at handling the nuances of the various state statutes and laws governing workers’ compensation subrogation. We practice a proactive approach to obtaining lien recoveries and are not satisfied waiting for random third-party attorneys to “protect” our clients’ liens, workers’ compensation defense attorneys simply sending a “lien protection letter”. Our proactive approach includes immediate and thorough investigation of each referred loss, notice to potential adverse parties, retention of appropriate and cost-effective experts, coordination of site inspections, evidence retention, and development of all potential theories of liability to pursue the best possible lien recovery results.

Trial-Tested Results in Complex and Catastrophic Claims

Our lawyers have successfully litigated cases, obtaining verdicts, settlements, and recoveries in complex and catastrophic workplace accident cases, including products liability, construction site accidents, manufacturing facility losses, maritime accidents, aviation accidents and trucking accident cases to name a few. Our experience with products liability cases includes, among other things, cases involving injuries caused by design and manufacturing defects across numerous industries, including farming, food processing, industrial machinery and others.

Maximizing Recoveries in Both Major and Overlooked Claims

DSB&C’s Workers’ Compensation Subrogation Recovery Program covers all potential claims recognized from the outset as both “catastrophic” or “major” in addition to lower lien value cases. We have identified that many of our clients were losing opportunities to recover liens because workers’ compensation adjusters and others involved in the process did not recognize, explore and develop many third-party liability cases when a potential opportunity existed.

Identifying Subrogation Opportunities Others Miss

These cases typically include accidents involving scaffolding at construction sites, product defect cases, machine guarding in plants, trucking accidents on highways, slip/trip and falls, etc. which all provide potential bases for favorable recoveries. Our practice model is based on what we have seen in the industry, and while these types of incidents are generally documented in a limited way (i.e. First Notice of Loss or Incident Report), these methods do not typically properly document enough information to provide a basis to decide whether to pursue a subrogation recovery. Accident sites may be gone, evidence discarded, repaired or sold, and potential witnesses (often temporary workers or transient types) oftentimes have moved to places unknown before the injured party’s private counsel or anyone else attempts to develop a case against a potentially culpable third party or parties.

Why Our Model Outperforms Traditional “Lien Protection” Methods

Our model does not simply rely upon a single piece of paper and/or a plaintiff’s lawyer, who may not be retained by the injured worker for several days, weeks, months, or even years after the accident to protect the carrier’s interest. Moreover, workers’ compensation defense counsel, who are retained to determine compensability and defend the workers’ compensation claim, are not typically skilled at prosecuting lien recovery cases. We have also found that apart from the obvious timing problems, the injured party’s lawyer often assumes an adversarial position and postures to have the carrier compromise or waive its lien or “gerrymanders” to shift money away from the carrier.

Early Involvement Leads to Stronger Recoveries

DSB&C’s Workers’ Compensation Subrogation Recovery Program employs a proactive approach, which relies heavily on early intervention. This simply means the earlier a carrier involves DSB&C in a loss investigation, there is a greater chance for a significant potential lien recovery.

Partnering with Clients for Long-Term Success

Finally, DSB&C believes successful lien recoveries are a partnership between our clients and DSB&C. We provide training, legal updates, quarterly updates on all files and note that our workers’ compensation subrogation lawyers are recognized leaders in the industry and are frequent lecturers at national and regional subrogation conferences, National Association of Subrogation Professionals (NASP) seminars and webinars.