Your Workers’ Compensation Case: Chapter 1 – Starting Your Case

• Jun 19, 2025
• Blog
• Michael Burgis & Associates, P.C

Welcome to MB&A, and thank you for trusting us with your workers’ comp case. I’m Michael Burgis, founding attorney, and I want to walk you through the start of your case—this is just the beginning of your journey.

In the video below, I discuss the workers’ comp system and how it’s often designed to frustrate injured workers, but we’re here to guide you through it. We’re here to fight to get you the best possible outcome.

If you have any questions about your workers’ compensation case, contact our workers’ compensation lawyers at  one of our Los Angeles offices and we’ll be happy to help.

Transcript: 

Hi, my name is Michael Burgis. I’m the founding and managing attorney of MB&A. I want to welcome you but at the same token, I really want to be fair to you and be a straight shooter. This is Chapter One of your case. You’re already injured. You’re already frustrated. Clearly, you had to get an attorney.

But I want you to understand that getting an attorney doesn’t snap the fingers and everything’s fixed. I can tell you right now that there’s no firm that could do better for you. But I want you to know and anticipate what’s coming and know that you got to stay the course. We will get through this.

The workers’ comp system is really designed to frustrate injured workers and have them sort of disappear. It is not fair. It is not just, but again, this is Chapter One, and I want you to know what to expect.

Your Workers’ Comp Case Step One: Accepted or Denied

First off, it depends on whether your case is accepted or denied. There are two different paths. If your claim is accepted, remember that the Labor Code § 5402, they have 90 days to investigate, admit, or deny your case.

Accepted Workers’ Comp Case

Now, if the case is immediately accepted, that should be a quicker path. What happens in an accepted case, though, however, is we still have to pull the insurance companies medical provider network. We have to look through the list of doctors and we have to try to find a doctor that is reasonably geographically located close to you.

And the truth is, most of these doctors in their network are not our friends. They’re not friendly to injured workers. They get paid for by the insurance company. So that first part, even on an accepted case, we have to shift through all these doctors to see if we can find the one that we think is the best doctor for you. That is somebody who’s close to you, hopefully. But it’s also somebody who’s going to advocate for you, listen to you, and is not completely beholden to the insurance company. So that takes time.

Denied Workers’ Comp Case

Now, if your case is denied at the outset, that can cause significant additional delays at the onset. When somebody comes to a law firm, they’re injured. They want to get to a doctor quickly and get that medical treatment. I get it. That’s exactly what I want for you. And we will do everything we can to expedite that. But understand, there are delays that are completely out of our control.

On a denied claim, again, they have 90 days to investigate and admit or deny. If they issue a denial quickly, that denial is what I need to potentially find another doctor to see you on a lien basis.

Again, if it’s an accepted case, we’ve got to treat in the network with their doctors. If it’s a denied case and I have that denial, sometimes I can find a doctor who will treat you on a lien basis and write good med legal reporting to help us. But again, these doctors are hard to find. And in fact, most doctors don’t treat on a lien basis. But because of how good we are and our reputation and our success rate, I do have doctors who will see our clients on a lien basis.

But understand, that first 90 days, they have to investigate, the insurance company. And it depends whether it’s admitted or denied. And if it’s admitted, we have to find a doctor, but maybe that doctor isn’t seeing workers’ comp patients. We’re setting too late. So there are delays.

In a denied case, we have to wait till that denial to find a doctor on a lien basis. And until that denial, we won’t be able to get a doctor to see you on your lien basis. So let me make this clear. When we file your worker’s comp claim, and we’re on Chapter One, please understand there are delays in getting you to see a doctor, but they’re outside of our control. Nobody can do it better or faster than us, and we will expedite it.

Use Your Personal Medical Insurance If Necessary

But I also want to be clear, if you have personal medical insurance and it’s not an accepted claim where they’re actively providing you treatment in their medical provider network, you should go to your personal doctors, get treatment without delay. I don’t care if you have to go to the E.R. to get that. Understand that you should never wait to see a doctor on your worker’s comp case. Go through your personal medical insurance, Medi-Cal, Medicare, go into the E.R. Do what you need to do to get as good as you can and avoid any delays.

That being said, we will expedite getting you to a doctor in the worker’s comp. But again, I want you to anticipate some delays and not get frustrated with that and understand that we are doing everything we can to expedite you getting to a doctor.

Now, once you get to a doctor, understand that it depends on if it’s an accepted case in treating the MPN, the medical provider network. If you’re not happy with that doctor, we can switch to another doctor. In fact, we can switch unlimited inside that medical provider network until you find a doctor that you’re comfortable with.

On the denied side, you know that old saying, “beggars can’t be choosers”? Well, it’s very difficult to find doctors on a denied basis. So understand that that doctor really isn’t going to do a lot of the medical treatment for you. That doctor probably won’t be able to do surgery for you on a lien basis unless it’s a personal injury case. You know, so, there’s very little that those doctors can do.

The Doctor Can Issue a Report

But what they can do is address causation and issue a report addressing whether they believe that you’ve sustained an industrial injury. Now, that medical evidence is unbelievably important because if the case is denied, you will likely see a neutral state doctor. And it’s very important because we are proactive, not reactive here at MB&A.

The better we can get a workup of a lien doctor or the initial treating, what’s called the primary treating physician’s report. If we have a med legal report addressing and finding industrial causation, that’s a nice roadmap. So when you see the neutral state doctor, that doctor gets sent that report. And if there’s already another doctor finding industrial causation and explaining how and why, it makes it very easy for that neutral doctor to agree and increases the probability that that doctor will find the injury industrial.

Turning a Denied Case to an Accepted Case

Here at MB&A, we maximize every tool we can to increase the probability of turning a denied case to an accepted case. And regardless of once it’s accepted, maximizing what you’re legally entitled to.

And remember that all of this stuff comes down to medical evidence. So it’s really, really important that we get good medical evidence. Now, what is good medical evidence?

Good Medical Evidence for Your Workers’ Comp Case

First off, good medical evidence is a doctor who is advocating for you and not the insurance company. Good medical evidence is that doctor addressing all of your injuries, all of your body parts. If it’s outside the scope of their specialty, like it’s an orthopedist, but there’s stress, depression, anxiety, there’s internal complications—that should be referred to a psychiatrist or psychologist and an internist, respectively.

But keep in mind, good medical evidence is that doctor addressing everything within his subspecialty, all the body parts, all the treatment you need going forward, and makes referrals out to those other doctors outside the scope. Understand that that’s a battle. And in Chapter One, we are in a battle with this insurance company. Again, they don’t care about you. They want to drag this out and get you to give up and get frustrated and walk away and take peanuts.

Recap: Starting Your Workers’ Comp Case

This video is really to just tell you to be prepared. We do have to battle a little bit to get your case set up, get past a denial, get authorization to see a doctor, and find a doctor who will see you at a reasonable geographic location in a reasonable time. So this video is just to let you know, this is Chapter One. We are unbelievably good at what we do. Nobody, I truly believe, there’s not another firm in the state that could do better than us.

But I do want you to anticipate some initial delays. I believe in being a straight shooter, and underpromising and overdelivering. And this video is just a welcome to the firm in a Chapter One. And I want you to know that, you know, I know you’re frustrated. I know you’re injured. I know you want to get to a doctor and you want to get better. I know that you want to get better and you want to get back to work, whether it be with this employer or another employer.

We are aligned. I want you as good as I can possibly get you. I want you back in the workforce. I want you happily ever after. We’re going to be in this together. It’s a team.

Your Trusted Workers’ Compensation Law Firm

Please understand this is just a Chapter One update to keep you apprised of the stuff. And you will be meeting your attorney. You will have a case manager assigned as well. And that attorney and case manager can educate you on the law, how your facts apply to that law, and create a strategy to accomplish what you want.

And generally, that is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Sometimes, it’s to go back to work for the same employer. Sometimes, it’s just getting better. Whatever your goals are, that is our goals and we will accomplish substantial justice expeditiously. I look forward to taking care of you.