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Michael Moroni

Abstract

Historically, approximately forty to sixty percent of Missouri workers’ compensation cases are handled by the claimant pro se. Prior to 2005, the Missouri Division of Workers’ Compensation provided a Legal Advisor to meet with claimants to explain the system’s medical and financial benefits and assist them in understanding their rights. Under the 2005 Act, the position of Legal Advisor was eliminated. Additionally, the Ethics Counsel for the Missouri Supreme Court has ruled that it is no longer ethical for the Legal Advisor to provide many of the services traditionally available to claimants. As a result, unrepresented claimants no longer receive the benefits which were provided under the old system. Since 2005, there has been an approximate fifteen percent reduction in the monetary value of pro se settlements. The State Auditor has gone so far as to argue that pro se claimants are now at a disadvantage and has recommended that these services be provided by other attorneys within the Department of Labor. This paper examines whether the old “Legal Advisor system” can be re-implemented under the new Act and concludes that, to a great extent, it can be resurrected. This paper further concludes that because of the proven inequities of the new system, a modified version of the old system should be reinstated. In reaching these conclusions this paper reviews the history of the workers’ compensation system, the 2005 legislative changes, the opinions of the Ethics Counsel, and the functioning of similar systems in other states. In particular, the ethics opinions are re-examined in light of the historical rights and responsibilities of the Missouri workers’ compensation system and this paper examines how those opinions mesh with workers’ compensation statutory law and case law.

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