The Injury
The client worked through a temporary staffing agency in labor work in the Chicago, Illinois area. In 2018 he injured his right wrist on the job. At first it looked like an injury that would heal with time and therapy. It did not.
When an Injury Becomes a Chronic Condition
The wrist did not get better. The pain grew out of proportion — constant, burning, and disabling. Over time, doctors identified Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS): a chronic nervous-system condition in which an injury triggers severe, persistent pain far beyond what the original damage would explain.
CRPS is one of the diagnoses insurers fight hardest. It doesn’t show up neatly on an X-ray, so the playbook is doubt — doubt that it’s real, doubt that it came from work, doubt that it warrants lifelong care. That doubt was the wall this worker faced.
Meanwhile, he went through pain management, occupational therapy, orthopedic follow-ups, and a functional capacity evaluation that showed he could no longer perform his prior work. Even then, the claim was contested so aggressively that the case went to appeal — years of legal battle.
Turning Strategy Into Justice
When the client came to our office, our legal team immediately took control of the case.
We assembled the full medical record — every wrist note, every pain report, every CRPS document — and proved the condition was real, work-related, and permanent.
Jack Epstein, with 30 years of experience in the Illinois legal market, oversaw the strategy. When the claim was challenged, we did not back down: we carried it through the appellate stage and fought for recognition of the permanent injury and compensation that matched the harm. Throughout, the client paid nothing until we won the case.
The Result
The client secured a $200,000 settlement.
After years of fighting and an appeal, the system acknowledged what the client lived every day: real, chronic pain born from a workplace injury. Every denial, we met. Every doubt, we answered with evidence.
Why This Case Matters
A wrist injury that turns into CRPS is exactly the kind of claim insurers try to wear down with doubt and delay — and exactly the kind worth fighting to the appellate level. Chronic pain from a workplace injury is compensable, and the medical record can prove it.
If your work injury became a chronic pain condition, or you’ve been diagnosed with CRPS, our Illinois legal team can help you recover what you rightfully deserve.
