do you have a workers compensation claim that's about to end and you want to know where do i go from here what are my settlement options which one is best for me well stay tuned in this video i'm about to go through all your settlement options with the pros and cons so that you can get a good idea as to which one is the best fit for you [Music] hi i'm naomi from gonzales law legal insights from california attorneys today's topic is settlement what are the options and which one is best for me what you need to understand is you do not have the right to settle you have the right to go to trial but not to settle to settle you actually need both sides to come together and agree they have to agree on the number as well as all the terms in the settlement so the options for settlement there's a stipulation with request for award and a compromise and release a stip and cnr the stip option you're only settling your permanent disability whatever the doctor gave you in their report and that's usually your qualified medical evaluator or your primary treating physician they're going to give you a number in their report in terms of whole person impairment we do a mathematical calculation and then you get converted into permanent disability rating which is then converted into a dollar figure based on your date of injury for stiff the pros are first you get medical coverage for your accepted body parts for your lifetime that's a huge one two you have the ability to petition the court to reopen your case for a new and further injury within five years of your date of injury then sometimes these people will settle and then there for whatever reason their injury worsens over the next year two years and if this happens and you settled via step you can petition the court to reopen and see if there's any more permanent disability there for you this is the case for only a step three you can continue working for your employer assuming that you're physically able to do so four you have 104 weeks of temporary disability allowed for each claim of workers compensation if you settle and you haven't used up that whole 104 weeks and you need a surgery you'll be able to use some of that within five years of your date of injury now the stip cons the first con is the amounts that you settle for are lower in some cases much lower than you would the other type and that's because you're only settling out your permanent disability not your future medical two your payment is not in a lump sum it gets paid out bi-weekly until it's all paid out and then it stops most people get checks of 580 this is not usually enough for people to live on and they normally would need to be working at the time that they're receiving this amount the exception being if you are a catastrophic 70 or higher then there's a difference three you do not have complete control over your future medical that medical has to be done within with a workers compensation system you still have to be within the medical provider network and still get pre-approvals for all kinds of treatment for this is not the type of settlement that you can do early you have to see the thing through to the very end and get all your final reports before you can go forward with that settlement so let's talk about the cnr the cnr is a lump sum clean break kind of settlement at the end of the day there's no more case and there's no more future medical everything is settled out at the same time pros and cons the pro is the amounts of the settlements are higher because you do get your future medical settled out at the same time and it's also paid out in a lump sum and there is room for negotiation because we can negotiate the price of the future medical during our settlement negotiation two you get to take control back of your medical treatment lots of people at this point are very frustrated they've gotten a lot of denials they haven't gotten the treatment that they want and sometimes it can be very appealing to just get this lump sum so that you can take that money and go treat yourself treat with any doctor you want you don't have to get pre-approvals if you want physical therapy you get physical therapy you want acupuncture you get acupuncture and that is appealing to a lot of people three cnr can be done at any point during your case people do not want to wait till the very end to settle four you get to close out this case completely meaning this chapter of your life is done and you move on with your life now the cnr cons one it usually requires a voluntary resignation you would have to sign a resignation and not continue working with your employer two the amount we get for settlement may not be the actual amount necessary for your medical treatment this is because it's based on estimates of the future and nobody really knows the future and it also may have to do with some of our leveraging ability our negotiation power sometimes we have more power than others three there is no second bite at the apple if your injury worsens after settlement there's nothing really you can do about it you can't go after your employer or insurance company it's done four if you are on social security disability this will affect your payments so make sure your attorney knows and takes the proper precautions to mitigate this interference with your checks but if you're settling a cnr and you are a medicare recipient you will not have control over all of the settlement funds and that is because of the medicare set-aside requirements so which one is best for you if you're the type of person that would just rather have the security of having future medical then you may want a step if you've had a lot of trouble in your case where they're just fighting you on everything even on ibuprofen then you may want to consider a cnr so that you can just take control back of your future medical if you feel like your injury might worsen in the next few years you may want to do a stipulation or if you know you're going to have a surgery in the future then you may want to consider stipulation as well we do have some cases where they have a knee replacement they know they're going to need another surgery decide to do a stipulation so that they can have that done within workers compensation if you are impatient for whatever reason you need to settle early before you see this case to the end a stipulation will not be for you it would be the cnr instead if you want to stay working with your employer you're not going to want the cnr you're going to want the stipulation option if you are in very financial hardships and you need a lump sum right away then a cnr would probably be your best option some would rather get paid out now move on with life others would rather keep within the workers compensation system and have that security going forward it just really depends on what is most valuable for your family please support our mission by liking this video and this information is all general if you need information specific to your case or have more questions please give us a call or text this consult and we'll be very happy to talk to you and to discuss your case with you thank you bye three there is a dismissal of case or claim petition [Music] today's topic is today's topic