DBA Lawyer Straight Talk: What If I Don't Have A Defense Base Act Injury Report?

DBA Lawyer Straight Talk

If you are a seriously injured Defense Base Act Worker - you need to know the facts of life. We give it too you straight. No sugar added. Just good old fashioned, unsweetened truth.

If you Google "Defense Base Act Lawyer Straight Talk" or "DBA Attorney Straight Talk" you will find dozens of great articles by a DBA Lawyer that will help you win your DBA case.

Defense Base Act Injury Reports

When speaking to a Defense Base Act client, one of the first things I ask to see is any accident reports/ injury reports. And, one of the first things the DBA insurance company asks to see is any accident reports/ injury reports. Obviously an incident report goes a long way to documenting your injury. That is why we both ask to see it. At some point, I will be either be settling your case or presenting it to the Judge. The more documentation the better.

What If I Don't Have An Incident Report?

But what if you don't have an injury report? What if your supervisor refused to fill one out? Or maybe you didn't realize you were as badly hurt as you turned out to be and you just didn't get an accident report filled out? Or maybe your supervisor refused to fill out an accident report? What then?

Report Your Injury

Whatever the circumstances, 99% of the time you should report your injury as early as possible. If you haven't reported your injury yet, today would most likely be a good day to do so. Seriously. Every day you wait to report your Defense Base Act injury increases the odds of your claim being denied by the DBA insurance company (they deny timely reported claims left and right also), and most importantly, and having your claim denied by the DBA Judge.

Do Something

If nothing else, send an email. Tell a supervisor or someone in the company that is higher in rank than yourself. "Hey, I got hurt on such and such day when I did such and such.... My back was hurt...." You don't need to provide a huge amount of information: basic details are fine and probably preferable. Send a copy of the email to yourself so you can document that it was actually sent.

Document Your Injuries

If possible, you need to document your injuries. For example, take pictures of bruises, swelling, marks, etc. Then email the photos to yourself so you can document when the photos were taken.

Get Contact Information

Do you have the contact information for people that either saw you get hurt, saw you right afterwards and/or saw your injuries? If not, your economic future may depend on these people. A little hustle goes a long way here.

Ask them to email you a short statement of what they saw or witnessed. "Last month I saw Joe Smith step in a hole and twist his ankle. Afterwards it was swollen and black and blue. He was limping pretty bad." Whatever they saw, ask them to document it in an email.

The Line At The Bottom

The long and short of it is you should get an accident report. Period. However, just because you don't have an accident report, doesn't mean you can't prevail in getting your Defense Base Act benefits. And even if you don't have one shred of evidence corroborating your injury, you can still prevail. However, know this: the more evidence you can give me to work with, the more chance there is we will get a favorable result in your DBA case.

Disclaimer

This DBA article is not legal advice. I am simplistic in order to achieve clarity. Your particular circumstances may differ than those described in this article. If you are a seriously Defense Base Act worker you need to hire the best DBA Lawyer that you can find.

When you bring a Defense Base Act claim, your credibility is always at issue. It's really simple. If the Judge doesn't believe you - you will lose your case. Always tell the truth. Always.

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