When I started practicing many years ago, you knew if you were being surveilled. A car or van with tinted windows would park in front of your house. Now, everyone carries a camera in their phone and it is impossible to know if you are being surveilled.
I advise my clients not to change their life just because they have a workers’ compensation claim. Go about your normal day. Just be honest. If in a recorded statement or deposition, you are asked what you do on an average day, be honest. You are claiming you can’t work because you are injured, but you don’t have to be completely helpless. You can live your normal life, you just can’t work.
If asked in a deposition, how much can you lift, be honest? Do you cut your grass? Do you have hobbies? Can you lift your child? These are questions which tell you they have surveillance. Just be honest.
The Adjuster knows when you are going to the doctor. He or she approved of the appointment. They will do surveillance on days you are going to the doctor because they know you will leave your house and probably run errands going to or coming from the appointment. They may follow you in Walmart. They filmed you picking up a 30 lbs bag of dogfood. How much can you lift? Don’t say 10 lbs!
You have good days and bad days, but you are not completely crippled. You can function, you just can’t work because injured. Talk to an experienced workers’ compensation lawyer before giving a recorded statement or deposition.
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