Why you Need a Defense Base Act Attorney to Fight for your Defense Base Act Benefits
If you have been seriously injured while working as civilian military contractor, you and your family are probably wondering what steps you need to take to ensure a financially stable future. The Defense Base Act (DBA) is a federal workers compensation program enacted to cover the civilian employees of contractors who have been injured while working under a U.S. Government contract in Afghanistan, Iraq or anywhere in the world. Throughout the world, contractor employees working with the State Department and military operations will normally fall under the Defense Base Act.
If you are a civilian employee of an overseas contractor, it is important to understand why you need an experienced Defense Base Act Lawyer to fight for your Defense Base Act benefits. There is a misconception about the Defense Base Act that needs to be dispelled – if you have suffered a legitimate injury while working for a contractor and are unable to work, it does not necessarily mean that your employer will voluntarily or automatically provide the Defense Base Act benefits to which you are entitled. Your employer and its insurance company have a team of adjusters, investigators and specialized lawyers whose job is to find a reason to severely limit the compensation paid to you, or even deny your claim completely.
The Defense Base Act is very different from most state workers compensation programs. Although you may have suffered a legitimate injury, your employer can deny your claim without a hearing. Then it is up to you to prove that the injury falls under the Defense Base Act and that you are entitled to benefits. Even when your employer acts without cause, you will have to defend yourself against the insurance companies and highly paid lawyers who know how to make things very difficult. That is their job – creating doubt and confusion in the hope that the judge deciding your case will lose sight of the truth. That is what they do. These kinds of tactics take place every day.
To counter the insurance lawyers’ tactics, it is essential that you hire a Defense Base Act Lawyer; a lawyer that knows the DBA inside and out, and knows how to use the Act to force the insurance company to pay you all the benefits you are entitled to. Not an easy job, but one that an experienced Defense Base Act lawyer has done successfully many times.
Lawyers who know the Defense Base Act, and have experience handling such claims, are few an far between. Many Defense Base Act workers make the mistake of hiring a traditional workers compensation lawyer for their Defense Base Act case. Unfortunately, that lawyer will not have the knowledge and expertise in this area of the law, will and will likely be crushed by the big Defense Base Act insurance company lawyers.
If you have suffered an injury while performing your duties as a Defense Base Act employee, it is vital that you hire an experienced Defense Base Act attorney. Just because you may know your Defense Base Act claim is legitimate, do not let yourself think that it is an easy case to prove. A Defense Base Act attorney will not let your DBA employer, or its insurance company steamroll your claim.
